These Are The Irrational Driving Fears That Haunt Jalopnik Readers

Crossing a bridge and for whatever reason: bridge collapses due to earthquake, a cargo ship runs into it, poor maintenance due to incompetent officials skimping on that work...whatever...and the car is thrown into the water.

And since I can’t swim, the idea of the car slowly filling with water as I die a horrible preventable death if I could only dog paddle, yeah, I get that certain feeling of dread.

Suggested by the1969DodgeChargerFan

Two - but very similar and both involve (BIG) trucks, their loads, and personal experience once removed.

My mother witnessed a decapitation when she was in college and while being driven home from TN to D.C. by my uncle (her older brother-in-law) when a log hauler lost one and it proceeded to take out the driver of the car following it. They were just behind that car, and my uncle had the situational awareness to see it coming and stop quickly. Unfortunately, this also meant he announced what was happening to anyone not already watching/driving (my aunt and mom) while braking.

He also had the presence of mind to then pass both, pull over and attempt to help. All he really could do was comfort the car’s passenger, make sure that she was going to be okay (the trucker stayed with her) while he drove to the next town to call emergency services. Oddly, she wasn’t hysterical - shock, probably.

This would have been in the fifties.

I am consequently terrified by logging trucks and other large loaded construction vehicles and should really not watch trucks tip over and burst into flames while crushing sedans beneath them on reddit.

Suggested by sybann

Something going through my windshield, especially at highway speeds. Always start to get a nervous when I’m behind someone on the highway with a poorly attached load of random junk in the bed/trailer.

Suggested by engineerthefuture

Someone crossing lanes from the opposite direction..

The thought doesn’t cripple me or prevent me from driving, but I’m always on the lookout..

Suggested by sounbwoy

I’ve had enough catastrophic failures of radiators, idle pulleys, timing belts, and tires that I don’t even listen to music while driving most of the time; I’m just waiting to hear something go wrong.

Suggested by OnceInAMillenia

Serial killer. Hook hand. Back seat.

Suggested by SolamenteDave

As an aside: When I was taking drivers’ training, our instructor was absolutely insistent that we begin every drive by walking around the car to inspect our tires, peer in the backseat, and check underneath in case there are any unwanted intruders. One week, I thought I was real smart: As I checked the tires, I found that my instructor had placed the keys behind one. In my triumph, I neglected to check the backseat, where he had planted someone to grab me as soon as I sat down. It’s a lesson I never forgot.

I have two:

1) If I drive around anywhere with T-Tops off or a sunroof open, a bird will shit all over me. This is made worse by the fact I just purchased an additional vehicle that is a convertible.

2) If I stop under a bridge/overpass, it will collapse on me. I did a mini-thesis in college on the Big Dig where people died when the giant concrete slabs on the ceiling fell off.

Suggested by MP81

I’m driving a 50 ton wrecker towing a semi, then a Rube Goldberg style mechanical failure brakes the steering column, which then lodges under the brake pedal, parts of it knocks the transmission to neutral, and disables the parking brake... oh yeah, and in front of me there is a school bus full of kids on bring your puppy to school day.

Suggested by towman

Convertibles - I don’t like being in a vehicle with the top down, hard or soft. I don’t know why, but it gives me anxiety. I don’t even like opening the sun/moon roof on any of the cars I’ve owned, which is weird because I enjoy driving with the windows down.

Suggested by dumbgreek

Dealing with a flat tire is an inconvenience and not an entirely irrational fear, unless you crank it up to 11 and worry about it constantly like I do. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I check all four tires literally every time I walk by my car and pay rapt attention to the way my car feels for the first five minutes or so of every drive to see if there might be something to indicate that a tire might be going flat.

Don’t even get me started on the interminable nightmare during the winter months when the TMPS warning light comes on until the tires warm up. My teeth grind loud enough to drown out the radio and I’m popping Zoloft like its Tic-Tacs.

Suggested by paradsecar

Plastic bags in the middle of the road. I know that it won’t happen, but I have a fear that one of those little pieces of trash will get caught up under my car, attach itself to the hot exhaust and ignite and cause my car to burn to the ground. I know that if it does get caught that all would happen would be that the bag would melt to the exhaust and probably cause a rank smell for a few miles, but I still have that fear. I will change lanes to avoid one of those little plastic bags. And if I can’t, my eyes are glued to my mirror to ensure that the bag is still there after I cross over it.

Suggested by Sucker for a ‘23 300C (formerly Magnum_STR8)

Remember that part at the beginning of The Dead Zone where John has his huge accident on his way home after the carnival? And that part of Hot Rod when the kids were playing hide and seek in the dark and they found each other? Any time I’m driving up a hill I can’t see over or around a right-hand curve I can’t see around, day or night, I’m riding the shoulder until I’m past it because I’m 99.9% convinced the one time I don’t is the time a moron will be in my lane going the wrong way at a blistering rate of speed.

Thanks for that, Mr. King and Mr. Felsen.

Suggested by SarDeliac

A box of kittens.

My in-class driving instructor used a box of kittens as the standard object you would need to avoid. They were always being thrown into the road by a pedestrian, falling off the back of a vehicle in front of you, or just randomly appearing in an inconvenient spot.

To this day, I have never encountered a box of kittens anywhere near a road, but you better believe that I am hypervigilant in my watch for them.

Suggested by AlphonzeMephesto 

Mine is hitting some dumbass deer that jumps at the last second from the darkness, gets lodged in my windshield and starts kicking me to death.

Suggested by darthspartan117

I’m sorry for laughing but this mental image is hilarious.

Backing up on a steep driveway and the brakes fail. No matter how hard I press on the pedal, it’s not enough pressure to slow down and I can’t avoid hitting something or someone behind me.

I’ve had crazy dreams about this exact scenario for whatever odd reason and it always leaves me seriously creeped out.

Suggested by factoryhack