Otodiva – The term driver anxiety may not be very familiar to the Indonesian people. However, driver anxiety or anxiety while driving is actually an important concern, especially in developed/developing countries with the complexity of traffic flow, including in parts of Indonesia. Moreover, women experience anxiety while driving.
Based on a study by the Journal of Transportation and Health just released by sciencedirect.com regarding anxiety disorders while driving in France, It is women who experience these cases more often than men.
Read too: Important! 5 Tips for Learning to Drive a Manual Car for Women
Women, especially at ages above 35 year, more likely to experience driving anxiety disorders. Although it is said that men tend to be more careless, they have good driving skills. Meanwhile, although women are careful, they are less adept at driving.
The results of this research are not much different from reports in the United States, who mentioned that 66% drivers in the country have driving anxiety. Including 55% of them experience anxiety even when performing simple maneuvers such as turning or making a U-turn. And many drivers are worried, 75% comes from women.
The stereotype that women are less capable of driving maneuvers is actually proven. It is not uncommon for someone to know that a car is driven by a woman from the way she turns or takes a lane in the middle of heavy traffic.
Cause of Driver Anxiety
Driver anxiety is a modern psychological anxiety that occurs amidst the rapid flow of traffic in various countries. Heavy vehicle mobility, especially four-wheeled vehicles, causing stress levels on the streets to increase. Coupled with other psychological factors that can sometimes trigger anxiety when driving.
The biggest reason a person can experience driving anxiety is past trauma. In the report it was stated that people had experienced accidents (small or big) had higher anxiety scores than those who had never had an accident.
Another factor is a lack of trust in other drivers on the road. If someone is too worried that another driver will hit them, or perform surprising actions, the greater the chance that he will experience driver anxiety.
There are also additional factors that arise after receiving public service advertisements regarding caution when driving. This has proven to give rise to the stigma that the road being traveled is a dangerous route. Especially now with the addition of citizen journalism on social media which shows accidents without censorship. This can further increase the chances of anxiety on the road.
Hopefully this report will actually increase our vigilance in driving, of. Stay safe, girls!
