some days is truggle to stay in my car lane

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23 , and been driving since I was 18. Some days I get anxious behind the wheel(im always anxious at right turns on red, or left turns on green), and days like today it was hard for me to stay in my lane when driving. anyone else get like this.

not to mention i always think every bump i hit is a person and im gonna go to jail for vehicular homicide. to be honest, although id hate to kill a person id be more pissed at how screwed id be for unintentionally hitting them and having to rot in prison ha.

i'm also becoming pyschotic.

I'm no stranger to the presumption that I've already done something terrible which I completely missed. On the contrary, I think what you interpret as psychosis could be better viewed as legitimate concern for the safety of people around you. As a gearhead, I'd suggest you try car control training, or just take some time to get comfortable with your car's responses.

What do you drive? Hopefully I can give you some pointers

That's called driving in New Jersey.

I used to be like this when I was a new driver. I was constantly paranoid about killing someone. I guess I just got used to driving, but I remember I would avoid the highway if possible and take backroads because there were less cars, even if it took longer to get to my destination. I also drove at times of the day when there weren't many other people driving. Sometimes, I would just go out and cruise some empty roads in the evening; that allowed me to relax and increased my confidence in driving. It can help you get more familiar with different areas, so you can concentrate on driving instead of trying to navigate at the same time. If you have to drive somewhere new, drive there beforehand to get familiar with the route.

And in the rare event you hit someone, don't do a hit and run. Stay and render aid, or at least call 911.

And don't drive drunk. And with .08 in many states, even two beers can be pushing the envelope of legal intoxication.*

If you get these two things right, you most probably won't go to jail.

*I'm a light drinker and weigh about 150 pounds. I can sometimes feel the effect with just one beer.

In writing, politics, art, I am often a nonconformist. With driving, I am happy to be a conformist.

I try and go with the flow of traffic, being aware that yes, some people are going faster than they should, but mainly trying to be aware of and appreciate the majority of people going a good medium speed and following their good example. It's also okay to go slightly slower than the main speed. (one road study found that the top 15% of drivers were going way faster than they should)

More specifically, driving on route 22 (at least that's what it's called in these northern parts!)

That's not good.

Best to figure out how to deal with the underlying causes of your anxiety so you can cope a little better, be a little more present in your daily life and activities, and driver safer for yourself and those around you.

I don't have any real anxiety issues with driving at all, but I have drifted out of lanes before.. probably spacing out due to add/adhd, but it's possible it's been due to sensory/motor skills coordination issues - I don't really know. I've also impulsively done stupid things like punching the gas for some fun when it probably wasn't the brightest move... I have low anxiety & better coordination and motor skills these days, so not sure I'd even do any of these things anymore. I let my licence expire and haven't driven for a few months, but will be back to driving soon. I find I'm a better calmer driver now than when I was 16, but that could just be because I'm 30 and goofing around was a youthful thing.

Meanwhile my twin brother is so anxious about driving and worried about the responsibility if he were to hit someone etc that he's never driven. He had a learners permit a couple times, but never learned. Thing is, he can drive, probably better than I can - as he was a materials handler driving a very large forklift in a busy millwork shop for a couple of years in our later teens. He was quick & precise and ended up being the official trainer to certify all the older guys at his workplace after he aced his own tests first. He says he had no problem driving on private property where there's no cars/public etc, no worries about hitting anyone, injuring or killing them, feeling bad about it and so on so he could do his job just fine. But on the road? Nope, never - he just can't. I think if he wanted to deal with the anxiety first that he could if he wanted to, but he seems content to use public transit. Ironically, he's travelled much of the world via his job.

Anyways, I "get," the anxiety thing - but only because my brother has described it to me before - otherwise I wouldn't reeeeeally get it as I don't have those issues. I can just get behind the wheel of a car, fire it up, point & go with no worries. Auto or manual - although I'd be a little rusty on clutch/shifter since it's been a few years.. but I can still hop in and drive any 5spd w/o stalling it if I had to. Like anything, you get better with practice & it's use it or lose it. It wouldn't take long to be right back into the swing of things with a standard car, though.

I forgot to mention: regarding trouble staying in your lane, if the problem is that you don't have a good sense of how to steer/where the limits of your lane are, I used to adjust my windows so that I could see the paint on the road that marks the lanes, and I would glance at it from time to time until I had a good sense of how I needed to manage the car to stay in my lane.

Yes, this. I always knew in each of my cars where the paint line on the edge of the lane would match up to the front end/hood of my car when I was in my regular seated position. This was particularly useful when driving in the fog, or rain, or while tired as I could use it as a reference point to glance at and make sure I wasn't drifting to either side.

Yes, but for different reasons. I literally have to look at my phone constantly when I go anywhere, even places I've been several times before, or I can't find my way, and I swerve out and get nervous, especially when cars pull in alongside me. that is so irritating.

Get a dash/windshield mount for your phone, or separate GPS. Turn the verbal instructions on, too. It'll let you utilize GPS technology to compensate for a lack of sense of direction w/o being nearly as dangerous as looking down at your phone.

Oh, that's even worse. It's harder to fiddle with, and following verbal instructions involves being able to visualize and having common sense (not turning "left" into oncoming traffic or a fire hydrant) I was driving one of my ex-girlfriend's cars, and she actually made me switch over to the passenger's side because of too many close calls. I also freak out a lot just like the OP.

I'm looking forward to being off the road this summer in D.C. Hopefully, I can do away with driving permanently. I think there's something fundamentally wrong with a society that expects everyone to be able to drive as a necessity.

Thats the dang truth Jersey Devil at it's best woohoo

My deaf friends use gps software that has really good visual indicators w/ arrows that point & flash over the lanes you're required to be in for your next exit or turn, so you know whether you need to make a move left or right or w/e. I can find out what the software is, if you like, as it's about the best I've seen for visual GPS instructions as they give you plenty of advanced warning for lane changes and turns etc and my friends certainly don't rely on any verbal instructions.

Yeah, I hear ya.. driving isn't absolutely necessary, but it sure is convenient. I enjoy it and the freedom it brings, able to head over to a friends place at a moments notice, or off to the park/beach/mountain/wherever, or off to a job that pretty well requires the use of a car w/o being a professional driving job.. and since I'm looking forward to a career switch again, I can't wait to have wheels so I can start applying for jobs I'm much more interested in that simply aren't public transit accessible.

I get very nervous when I am on the freeway and there is lot of traffic. I am so worried about crashing. I feel anxiety. But everywhere else I feel okay. I just don't like turning left on a road when there is traffic coming at me so I prefer to turn right and then left and then right again on the same road and go the direction I want to go. I do this when there is too much traffic.