Anxiety Driving Through Large Cities

I completed trucking school here in my province, and got my 1A license (CDL) back at the end of October. Right out the gate, I was employed (I drive with my spouse) and sent to Minnesota. That went really well! So on the next run, we were driving through Nashville... long story short, a car cut me off right about a foot in front going 70mph on the interstate and in turn, I moved slightly over and another truck took out my driver side mirror with his trailer. ANYWAY, now I have major anxiety driving through large cities and I want so desperately to gain my confidence back and not freak out. My poor boyfriend always drives through them for me and I feel so guilty that now I'm even wondering if this was the right career path for me. Tips and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I completed trucking school here in my province, and got my 1A license (CDL) back at the end of October. Right out the gate, I was employed (I drive with my spouse) and sent to Minnesota. That went really well! So on the next run, we were driving through Nashville... long story short, a car cut me off right about a foot in front going 70mph on the interstate and in turn, I moved slightly over and another truck took out my driver side mirror with his trailer. ANYWAY, now I have major anxiety driving through large cities and I want so desperately to gain my confidence back and not freak out. My poor boyfriend always drives through them for me and I feel so guilty that now I'm even wondering if this was the right career path for me. Tips and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Howdy, gal & welcome to Trucking Truth~!!

I can totally understand your conundrum. I despise large cities, as well. I was born in NY, so there's already a disadvantage, LoL.

Girl, you did the correct thing, IMHO. Minimal (and not collateral) damage. Confidence is built, not bought; as you know. It'll take time, and you will work back up . . . slowly but surely. Chew gum; it helped me while I was driving with MY guy!!

Also; check out some videos, by one of our moderators, here: Kearsey's Channel.

She's a trainer for Prime, and team trains; being in 'your' situation often. I hope this helps a bit!

Best wishes;

~ Anne ~

Howdy!

I have been in 3 passenger side accidents with 4 wheelers....two hit my steers, with one wrapping around in front of me and the third one hit my drives hard enough to bounce and hit my trailers also. It took close to a year to get over the anxiety I had with that one. Those other two were merging accidents and made me mad beyond belief!!

Accidents are like getting thrown from a horse...You have to brush yourself off and get right back on. I run solo so I have no one to take over driving for me. Plan your routes and plan to drive thru at least halfway and then if you can't make it the rest of the way through, know of a place where you can pull over and swap out...but if you did okay going halfway, you should be able to go the rest of the way through. I don't chew gum cuz I have dentures, but I do plugin my cell phone to the radio with an audio cord, and listen to the music I have in libraries on YouTube. Singing along to music and paying attention to traffic kept me busy with next to nothing for anxiety. Take care!

Laura

You are on the right track! Keep going! Having that confidence is already a power! Just focus and keep motivated. Having the Driving Skill for Heavy Vehicle is already a great attribute. I hope your confidence will get back and start earning from this job. Hope to hear from you when this happen.

Stuff happens. Don't give up. I hope YOU weren't going 70 in Nashville which is a 55mph. Part of driving is expecting how the traffic is going to react. Expect someone passing you to cut you off... Come off the pedal or even slow down with the brakes a bit.

Always be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to how the trucks are driving some have terrible lane Control due to inexperience or distractions.

Keep a cushion around you. Its defensive driving. And our job. Good luck

I've been there and done that. In my case, I've asked myself why I'm doing these things in the first place. And the reason for this is that it is something I desire. So it's either I overcome my anxieties or I become a crybaby. It worked well for me. I wish you good health!

I'm still in trucking school, so I don't have the same experience as you, but I have been a bus driver for many, many years, so I feel like I can offer a bit of advice. You need nerves of steel. Don't have that? Don't worry, you will soon enough. It's this weird game where you sort of always have to keep in the back of your mind that you're doing something so serious that you could kill people if you screw up, yet NOT let that thought take over. Instead, when I'm driving, I'm mainly just intensely focused on the job at hand. I sort of distance myself from the risk, and do it like I'm playing a video game, because, when you're in a situation where the driving is intense, difficult, or scary, you have to just focus on what needs to be done, and (mostly) block out all that other stuff. Later, I might think "well, that was crazy," but in the moment, I'm just focused on doing it. Another thing is to let go of the little mishaps. If you have a near miss, don't dwell on it; just keep doing the best you can do. Because, if something goes wrong, your emotional reaction to it can make you lose focus, and that can cause more problems. If you make a mistake, you can think about what happened later, and strategize about how you might do better in the future. But, if you let it get to you in the moment, you'll just keep making more mistakes. Just concentrate on what you're doing, and just keep driving. Over the years, I have found that "just keep driving" is the answer to most problems in life.