Driving Anxiety Tips | How To Deal With Aggressive Drivers Behind You

Do cars that are close behind you make you nervous? Is your greatest fear having a car come up behind you and intimidating you. Maybe it causes you to panic and fear you’ll do something silly and lose control of driving.

Today we’re talking about drivers that get too close behind you, and if you have driving anxiety we know five things for sure:
1. You are already nervous about driving and have taken a big leap of faith to get out there and drive.
2. You’re concerned that the extra worry of having an aggressive driver behind you will take your focus off of the road and make you unsafe.
3. You worry that your driving skills aren’t good enough.
4. You’re concerned they’ll run you off the road.
5. And it all feels TOO MUCH when a driver gets up behind you too close.

If this sounds familiar, this video is for you. We talk about four things you can do to deal with that aggressive driver and how to deal with your driving anxiety.

❤ Clare

COME AND FIND ME ELSEWHERE

#drivinganxiety #generationcalm

Disclaimer: This information should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health condition or disease and is not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician or healthcare provider.

Music
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[sarahfujia]

Thank you so much for this. 💝
I’ve been searching for videos about how to deal with aggressive drivers on the road, and sadly most videos are on tricks about how to “get aggressive drivers back, ” or encourage speeding. What you said about not taking it personally resonated so much - those aggressive drivers on the road are often acting the way they do out of trauma, and they need a way to let out their pent up anger and self hatred. It is so comforting to know it’s nothing to do with me, or my driving. Safety first, who cares what they are thinking, it’s my life, and they have no right to put me in danger. Thank you again :)

[stacypepsi]

I have had driving anxiety since I can remember I only go the same routes and worry about these routes aswell..
But my main concern is other drivers my dad while I was growing up would get angry at other drivers and think I feel like every driver is getting angry at me!! Thanks for videos

[ericmiller]

Tailgaters really bother me. Different scenario but one thing I’ve encountered twice in the last few weeks is the “entitled driver” who expects me to stop on the main road and let them out of a smaller road. When it happened today—I was unfamiliar with the area and listening to GPS to not miss the turn—the pick up truck driver shouted “appreciate it!” as he aggressively turned out against me! Difficult to not ruminate on these behaviors from others!

[Cmajor]

This is really insightful. I’m gonna give it a try. Nothing worse than tailgating, it irks my soul.

[hilo]

What a pet peeve! I consider myself a courteous and experienced driver of 50 years. Wish someone else would consider using courtesy or better planning. I usually pull over if I can or avoid highways that are notorious for tailgating if I want to enjoy the drive. I limit when and where I am going to drive as well.

[samn]

Wow! So useful tips.
Yes, i am using them after watching your videos and it helped me a lot. It is like a magic in my driving anxiety. am improving. I did it .thank you Dr Claire.

[teresaali]

Oh yes, let’s make excuses in our minds for that other driver being a bully. Just pull over and relax for a few minutes while your ice cream melts because they’re in a hurry.

[chrissylyons]

I was in a Bad rear ended accident in July, and Everytime I got a tailgater behind me and it Gives me Soo much anxiety and I always pull over and let them go.

[earthsganaexplode]

I sincerely appreciate you. About to do a big trip across country and I will have to help drive. I am going to go drive today to practice.

[AgentGrace]

I do everything I can to relieve anxiety, but there's nowhere safe to pullover throughout most of my route home (I got into an accident when my car lost control on a gravel shoulder and flipped a few times). Within seconds I'm tensed up again. And tonight someone got so close I couldn't see their headlights. I tried to speed up because I'm slow but as I approached a 4-way stop I couldn't slow down... Until they passed me using the shoulder on a bridge! How do I cope with these new super aggressive drivers?

[kimmygxld]

Thank you for this well-needed validation!

[johnsarab]

Sometimes I move over to the fast lane to let the f*** ing tailgater zip pass, other times I HIT THE BRAKES HARD or slam it into a lower gear!

[jasonleesuffolk]

I just set my mirrors so i can't see them haha simple

[erikta]

I use to check my brakes when someone is tailgating me, but this solutions seems good, I'll try it the next time.
(Edit) I failed. Someone honked me when I was turning down the street and I checked my brakes. He got angry and we had a road rage episode. 😞

[BelindaJon]

Cannot stand entitled drivers. Men are definitely the worst, but have also seen a few horrible women drivers too. Used to have terrible road rage with it as I always do my best to be patient, have curtesy & avoid confrontation, so if others don’t do the same then it really heated me up, lol! Now I just usually let it go over my head & not let them get to me. They are not worth ruining your peace or your day