I am getting so neurotic about driving

[Faithr]

I've got this stupid dry eye problem which has effected my night vision, so I hardly drive at night anymore (I can still drive 10 minutes down the road to the store but not much further than that).

 

I've always been a nervous driver since a car accident when I was in my early 20s.  But now I have really built up a dread.  A couple of years ago I was driving on 95 to get to something and I got so nervous I got off and got the GPS to find an alternate route that took way longer.  But then I found out that a few minutes after I left 95 there was fatal accident right where I was headed.  When I finally got to the event there were all these other people who were still not there.  That's how I found out there had been this terrible accident. It was one of those felt-like-I-dodged-a-bullet moments.

 

  Anyway, I have not been on 95 since then.  My dd's AHG group just announced where they are doing their spring camping weekend and it is just off 95 and the first thing I did was figure out an alternative way to get there.  

 

I don't have a point to this, just feeling super wimpy and neurotic at the moment. . . .

[AK_Mom4]

You have my sympathy - I'm not fond of interstate driving myself.  Not many freeways here, so I luck out.

 

With regards to the night driving thing - my eye doctor recommended getting the anti-glare coating on my glasses and it really does help.  I don't wear glasses except to drive in the dark (lots of dark here in the winter), but it makes it so I can still see the road when oncoming traffic has their headlights on.  So, I have a pair of glasses with a nearly-nonexistent prescription and anti-glare coating for night driving.  I tried the yellow lens, but they didn't work as well for me.

[Liz CA]

The incident you described is scary and would have shook me too.

If it is really affecting your mobility, or if you experience high anxiety every time you get in the car, there are methods who address this, i.e. EMDR but if you are just looking for alternate routes and don't feel this issue dominates your life, you may just be happily driving down country roads.

Edited March 29, 2016 by Liz CA

[Guest]

I know JUST how you feel...it's getting harder for me to drive at night.  I especially hate it since I can't wear contacts anymore--those "stars" in the glasses are really annoying.

 

I HAVE been delighted at a couple of technology innovations that have made it better for me...and while you can't run out and get them off the shelf, maybe keep them in mind for your next car.  I have found that keeping my GPS on is extremely helpful because it gives you a clue as to what to expect in the road ahead...a curve?  A turn?  Knowing that the road is SUPPOSED to curve "right about now" gives me more confidence in knowing where to look.  (It seems to me that road maintenance has gotten worse...sometimes the white line on the right side is faded or non-existent on many of the roads I travel...and I'm not out in the country, either.

 

The other thing technology that I would NEVER have paid money for but it "came with the car" is headlights that turn into the curve/turn.  They do a much better job illuminating where I am GOING  (not just straight ahead of where I am).  I have been surprised at the difference this makes in my night vision.  The other thing that my car does is auto on/off on the brights...and while it took me awhile to trust the car to do this better than I do...it does.  The brights are also better aimed than my old car.  

 

Anyway, these things have been a big help to me.  I never would have thought about them as anything more than gee-whiz gadgetry when we were buying the car, but they have given me some amount of confidence in my night driving.   I won't even drive my dh's truck anymore--especially not after dark.