How to Get Over Driving Anxiety
TL;DR: Driving anxiety is more than nervousness behind the wheel—it’s often a trauma or nervous system response rooted in past experiences of fear, loss of control, or danger. Some people are more prone to this because of how their brains and bodies store and recall those experiences. Avoidance may feel protective, but it reinforces fear over time. Healing driving anxiety requires both body and brain retraining through gradual exposure, regulation tools, and therapies like EMDR and Brainspotting, which help reprocess fear at its root.
Understanding Driving Anxiety
Driving anxiety can show up in many forms: white-knuckling the steering wheel on the freeway, feeling your heart race at every stoplight, or avoiding driving altogether because the thought alone feels overwhelming.
You might feel embarrassed by it—especially if driving is something everyone around you seems to do without thinking. But the truth is, driving anxiety is common, and it doesn’t mean you’re weak or irrational.
Our nervous systems are designed to protect us. When something triggers the “fight, flight, or freeze” response—like a car accident, a near-miss, or even witnessing one—the body learns that driving equals danger. Over time, the body can stay “stuck” in that protective mode, even if you logically know you’re safe now.
For some people, the anxiety develops after a single traumatic incident; for others, it’s cumulative—built from chronic stress, perfectionism, or earlier experiences of feeling out of control.
Why Some People Fear Driving More Than Others
Not everyone who experiences a car accident or stressful drive develops anxiety. So why do some people struggle more? The answer lies in how the brain and nervous system process and store experiences.
If you’ve experienced trauma—whether related to driving or not—your brain may already be more sensitized to threat. This means your body can interpret normal driving sensations (speed, noise, other cars nearby) as danger signals.
Other contributing factors can include:
Past trauma or loss of control: If you’ve lived through events where you felt unsafe or helpless, driving can unconsciously trigger similar sensations.
Personality and temperament: Highly empathetic or detail-oriented people are often more attuned to subtle risks and therefore more anxious about potential outcomes.
Chronic stress or burnout: When your nervous system is already taxed, it has less capacity to regulate under pressure.
Vicarious experiences: Even hearing about accidents or seeing them in media can create anticipatory fear in some people.
Fear of driving isn’t a flaw in your personality—it’s a reflection of how your brain has been trying to keep you safe.
Why Avoidance Makes Anxiety Worse
Avoiding driving might seem like a reasonable solution—it gives immediate relief. But in the long run, avoidance teaches your brain that driving really is dangerous. Each time you skip the drive, your nervous system misses the chance to learn that it’s possible to feel safe behind the wheel again.
Over time, the fear grows larger, not smaller. You might start avoiding longer routes, highways, or even being a passenger. The world begins to shrink around that fear.
Avoidance is a form of self-protection, and it makes sense if driving has ever felt overwhelming. But sustainable healing requires retraining your body to tolerate—and eventually trust—those experiences again. That’s possible through small, supported steps.
Practical Tips for Managing Driving Anxiety
Healing from driving anxiety doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s absolutely achievable. Here are practical strategies that can help you begin feeling calmer and more in control:
1. Start Small, Go Slow
Begin with the lowest-stress version of driving you can tolerate—maybe sitting in the car in your driveway, or taking a short drive around your neighborhood. As your nervous system learns that you’re safe, you can gradually expand to new routes, times of day, or road types.
The key is to pace yourself. Celebrate progress, not perfection. Confidence grows through small, consistent exposure paired with safety cues.
2. Engage the Body, Not Just the Mind
Driving anxiety isn’t just a mental fear—it’s a full-body experience. Learn how to regulate your body’s signals in real time. Try:
Grounding techniques: Notice what you can see, hear, and feel in the present moment.
Breathing practices: Slow, deep breathing helps activate your parasympathetic (calming) nervous system.
Temperature regulation: Keep a cool drink or open the window for a sensory reset.
When you help your body feel safe, your mind naturally follows.
3. Create Comfort and Control
Structure builds safety. Choose calming music or podcasts, plan your routes in advance, and drive at less stressful times. Bring along items that soothe your nervous system—like a familiar scent, grounding stone, or weighted lap pad.
This isn’t about avoiding discomfort but creating an environment that supports regulation as you heal.
4. Reframe Catastrophic Thinking
Notice if your internal dialogue sounds like: “What if I get in an accident?” or “What if I panic and lose control?”
Try shifting it to:
“My body feels anxious, but I’m safe in this moment.”
“I’ve handled anxiety before, and I can do it again.”
“I can always pull over if I need to.”
You’re not trying to force positivity—you’re retraining your brain to interpret physical sensations as tolerable, not dangerous.
5. Get Support Instead of White-Knuckling It Alone
If driving anxiety has become a significant barrier, working with a trauma therapist can be transformative. You don’t have to do this through sheer willpower. The right tools and nervous-system-based approaches can help your brain unlearn the fear much more effectively than forcing yourself to push through.
How EMDR Helps with Driving Anxiety
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) helps your brain reprocess distressing experiences so they no longer trigger the same physiological alarm.
For example, if you were in a car accident, your body might still respond as if it’s happening every time you get on the highway. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation (like eye movements or tapping) to help the brain refile the memory correctly—so it becomes something that happened, not something happening.
As clients reprocess these experiences, they often report:
less startle response while driving
fewer panic sensations
more emotional neutrality around reminders (sirens, highways, etc.)
restored confidence and focus
Even if your anxiety wasn’t caused by a specific accident, EMDR can still help by addressing underlying fears of loss of control or danger.
How Brainspotting Helps You Reconnect Safety and Driving
Brainspotting is another trauma therapy that works directly with the body’s natural ability to heal. It helps identify where anxiety “lives” in your body and releases the stuck energy without you having to retell the story.
For driving anxiety, Brainspotting is particularly powerful because fear is often stored nonverbally—as body memories of movement, sound, or speed. Brainspotting helps access those implicit memories and discharge them safely, allowing your nervous system to reset.
Clients who’ve done Brainspotting for driving anxiety often describe feeling lighter, more relaxed, and able to drive longer distances without panic.
Learn more about Brainspotting here.
Why Therapy Intensives Work Faster
Traditional weekly therapy can absolutely help, but for phobias and trauma-related fears, therapy intensives offer a more immersive path to healing.
During a therapy intensive, you spend several hours (or multiple days) focused solely on resolving the core issue—using modalities like EMDR and Brainspotting, along with regulation and integration tools.
For driving anxiety, this means:
Processing the original fear memory fully without interruption.
Practicing regulation tools in real time.
Leaving with a nervous system that feels different—not just thinks differently.
Many clients find they make more progress in one or two intensive days than in months of traditional sessions.
Learn more about therapy intensives here.
When to Seek Professional Support
You don’t have to wait until your anxiety feels unmanageable to seek help. But it might be time to reach out if:
You avoid driving altogether or limit where you go.
You experience panic symptoms (racing heart, dizziness, tunnel vision) while driving.
You’ve tried self-help techniques but still feel stuck.
The fear feels disproportionate to the current level of risk.
Therapy can help you work at the level of the nervous system, not just mindset—allowing lasting change instead of temporary coping.
Takeaways
Driving anxiety isn’t just fear—it’s a nervous system pattern rooted in how your body remembers danger. While avoidance offers short-term comfort, true healing requires re-teaching your brain and body that driving can be safe again. Through gradual exposure, grounding tools, and trauma therapies like EMDR and Brainspotting, you can rewire those responses and rediscover a sense of calm and confidence behind the wheel.
Looking for an anxiety therapist in Seattle who specializes in trauma recovery?
Take the first step toward feeling free, calm, and capable—on the road and in your life.
About the author
Amanda Buduris, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist is a licensed therapist with over 10 years of experience supporting clients in Seattle, Washington. She specializes in trauma recovery, couples therapy, and attachment-focused work, and uses evidence-based approaches like EMDR, Brainspotting, IFS, and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) to help clients heal from past trauma, improve relationship dynamics, and build emotional resilience. At PNW Psychological Wellness, she is committed to providing compassionate, expert care both in-person and online for clients across Washington, Oregon, and 42 other states through PSYPACT.
