Driving Lessons for Anxious and Nervous Drivers

Driving Lessons for Anxious Drivers graphic

It’s reported that over 25% of drivers on our roads are nervous or anxious about driving in one way or another. From a few nervous wobbles about large and busy junctions, to a total fear of driving anywhere.*

1nfluence Driver Training can help you overcome your driving anxiety

Having experienced anxiety, lack of confidence and PTSD in the last 30 years herself, Lin Webb from 1nfluence Driver Training uses her unique insight, together with 25 years as a Driving Instructor, to work with you to build coping strategies and help you overcome your hurdles.

Situations where Lin can help you overcome anxiety and driving nerves include:

  • General lack of confidence in your driving ability
  • Driving test nerves or repeatedly failing a driving test when you feel you can drive to the required standard
  • Experienced / mature drivers who have lost confidence or may not have driven for a lengthy period of time
  • Speeding, drink/drug driving or road rage issues
  • Concerns about driving on motorways and dual carriageways
  • Fear of snow, fog, bad weather or night driving
  • Worry about having an accident, or experiencing anxiety or panic attacks after an accident
  • Anxiety about roundabouts, busy junctions or heavy traffic
  • Feeling nervous when driving alone, or the opposite, being nervous when carrying passengers
  • Being worried about driving after being criticised by your spouse or partner
  • Anxiety about driving in new areas
  • Returning to driving after having had health challenges

Whatever you are feeling, Lin really does understand and wants to help and support you. She will calmly work with you to assess your anxiety level and better understand what is triggering your increased anxiety, then encourage you to design lessons to ease your situation, build up your resilience and overcome your driving fears. Single lessons are available from £58 per hour. (For full details please see our Business Terms and Conditions).

If you are looking for driving lessons for adults with anxiety, driving lessons for nervous drivers or a driving school for anxious drivers, call Lin at 1nfluence Driver Training on 07780 708 706 or email for a chat and to find out more.

driving lessons for nervous drivers graphic

Lin Webb, who specialises in driving lessons for nervous drivers, explains just a few of the most common ways she helps nervous and anxious drivers, and anyone who finds driving challenging or stressful for any reason

Coaching

Coaching will help you take responsibility for your learning and help you conquer any other fears you hold. Having been trained to use coaching rather than the old fashioned instructional style of tuition, I can help you develop coping strategies that will have a lifelong effect on your safety when driving.

Breathing exercises

Breathing exercises take many different forms and can help all types of stress and anxiety. I can introduce you to help you give them a try to see what’s best for you. With practise you’ll be able to recall your favourite when you need it.

Relaxation

To start with this is something that you will practise at home in a few different ways. It takes a while to get to grips with but has huge benefits with all kinds of symptoms relating to stress and anxiety.

Challenging your thought patterns

Being aware of whether your self-talk is positive or negative is just a first step. We will reflect on when these thoughts happen, and ultimately how they affect emotions and behaviours as a result.

Driving Lessons for Anxious Drivers and Nervous Drivers image of hapy person driving a car on the open road

What people have said…

“Despite passing my driving test 11 years ago, I had never been able to establish the confidence to drive independently. It had developed into a phobia and I approached Ln to ask for help with tackling my high anxiety. After just a couple of lessons, I experienced a huge transformation in both my confidence and ability and, a month on, I now feel able to drive my daughter to school and back every day, which was a huge personal goal of mine. Lin was calm, down to earth and really easy to talk to: Id definitely recommend her to others with similar issues around driving. Its been a life changer! Thanks again Lin x”
Rozenn Gladwell

“I passed my driving test at the age of 17, but didn’t drive for over 10 years. The more time I left it, the less I wanted to get back into a car! Lin was calm, patient and encouraging and quickly got me driving through traffic, on motorways and managing some reversing manoeuvres. I can’t thank her enough for her support and would recommend her services to anyone wanting to get back behind the wheel!”
Tom Charlton

“I have tried to drive with numerous instructors since I was 17. Time and money were an obstacle but the biggest obstacle was my own psychological obstruction that I had created many years earlier. When I was 5 I was in involved in a massive car collision and spent three weeks in hospital recovering.

All of the driving instructors I have had would get frustrated, seeing great progress, getting closer to test only for me to break down in tears if a car came too close and I would go into panic.

Not wanting to be beaten by fear and now with two small children and many exciting beaches and countryside tantalising close and needing to be explored, I decided to make the hunt for an instructor again. I found a few websites, made a few calls and eventually found 1nfluence and (thankfully) Lin Webb. Lin spoke on her website about helping anxious drivers, teaching and coaching them until they became confident on the road.

I have never seen myself as a ‘driver’ but felt intrigued to give it a go. In the first lesson Lin drove us to quiet roads and let me in my own time drive the great distance of probably 30 yards and maybe 10 ish miles per hour..! It was THRILLING! Each week I gradually stopped dreading my lessons. I wanted to learn to be a driver not to rush through the lessons and hopefully pass the test. My children would be my regular passengers so ‘fluking’ the test was never an option. Seemingly without me realising I started to look forward to my lessons. We would take my children out with us over the holidays so they got used to being in the car with me and I got used to driving them.

I passed my theory test and then I started to feel like driving could in fact be for me…

Lin had helped me prepare for the test with every single lesson. Lin truly taught me how to drive on ‘real’ roads not just ‘test’ ones. I felt ready and prepared (even for the biggest roundabouts..!), all because of Lin’s expert guidance. I passed my test first time. I burst out crying as soon as the driving examiner told me. I couldn’t believe it! It felt like the end of a very long story line. I didn’t have control in the beginning when I was involved in the car crash but with Lin’s support and help I had taken control over it’s ending.

I am so grateful to have found Lin and 1nfluence and the great adventures she has made possible for myself and family.

If you are nervous or in two minds about driving, I understand, (truly I do!), congratulations you’re here reading this! It’s the first step and I really recommend your next step to get in contact with 1nfluence. It’s a great investment to get you driving safely and confidently on the road and onward to many adventures, freedoms, opportunities and happy times ahead!”
Chrissie Elcock

If you are looking for driving lessons for adults with anxiety, driving lessons for nervous drivers or a driving school for anxious drivers, call Lin at 1nfluence Driver Training on 07780 708 706 or email for a chat and to find out more.

1nfluence Driver Training also provide specialist support for drivers with SEN and learning differences, and have extensive experience with many different conditions, including helping people who are learning to drive with ADD/ADHD, learning to drive with ASD or driving and learning to drive with PTSD.

* A survey of 2,000 drivers by Nissan in 2018 found that about a quarter one quarter of drivers were uncomfortable on multi-lane roads, more than half of drivers said they felt nervous when hemmed in between lorries and cars on busy motorways, while just over 40 per cent said they disliked overtaking HGVs and other large vehicles. Other research conducted by insurers Swinton Group in conjunction with road safety charity IAM RoadSmart found that around one third of British people regularly drive while stressed.

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Testimonial - Sally Harper

Lin has given me so much more than the ability to drive a car and get from A to B. None of it came naturally to me but she was endlessly patient and made me believe I was making progress and could do it. She has more empathy in her little finger than most people do in their whole body and I know for a fact I wouldn’t have passed without her very unique brand of support and guidance. I will carry what Lin has taught me about not putting limits on myself into other areas of my life and will always be grateful. If you think you’ll never be able to drive or it’s not for you, Lin will prove you wrong. Thank you Lin for giving me the freedom to take my daughter out and make lots of new memories (at places that aren’t on the bus route!). I will miss our lessons and chats x

#drivecalm #coaching #relaxation #breathingexercises #breathingtechniques #selftalk #deaf #deafawareness #driving #drivinglessons #drivingtest #adhd #anxiety #anxietysupport #asd #confidence #deaf #dyslexia #dyspraxia #eastgrinstead #edenbridge #hurstgreen #neurodiversity #oxted #redhill #Sevenoaks #theorytest #tunbridgewells #westerham
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Testimonial - Fiona Frapwell

Following a move to a more rural location, it was time for me to bite the bullet and learn to drive. I'd had lessons previously and got as far as sitting a test, but that was nearly forty years ago! I didn't just feel rusty when it came to what I knew about driving; it was so far in the past, it was like it had never happened! To say I was nervous about picking it up again was a massive understatement and just the thought of driving made me feel sick with nerves.

Luckily a friend had recommended Lin to me and she immediately put me at my ease from our very first email conversation. Lin has a real knack for making you feel comfortable in lessons whilst challenging you at just the right level. I would finish lessons amazed at what I'd achieved. Lin helped me to focus on the difference that being able to drive would make to me and to my family and keeping that goal in mind really kept me going through the whole process.

If anyone had told me in January this year when I had my first lesson that I'd have passed my test by November, I just wouldn't have believed them. Thankfully, Lin believed in me all the way and I'm eternally grateful to her for that.

#DriveCalm #coaching #relaxation #breathingexercises #breathingtechniques #selftalk #deaf #deafawareness #driving #drivinglessons #drivingtest #ADHD #anxiety #anxietysupport #ASD #confidence #deaf #dyslexia #dyspraxia #eastgrinstead #edenbridge #hurstgreen #neurodiversity #oxted #redhill #sevenoaks #theorytest #tunbridgewells #westerham
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A very well deserved test result for Sally Harper in Sevenoaks today. What a lovely drive!! I'm so proud of you overcoming chronic anxiety to make this possible. Looking forward to meeting up with you after Christmas and hearing of all the places you have managed to get to with Cora. Congratulations..... enjoy your licence xx

#DriveCalm #coaching #relaxation #breathingexercises #breathingtechniques #selftalk #deaf #deafawareness #driving #drivinglessons #drivingtest #ADHD #anxiety #anxietysupport #ASD #confidence #deaf #dyslexia #dyspraxia #eastgrinstead #edenbridge #hurstgreen #neurodiversity #oxted #redhill #sevenoaks #theorytest #tunbridgewells #westerham
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Did you know our Driving Mobility Centres offer an assessment to help older drivers update their skills or help with lost confidence.

As vehicles become more sophisticated and roads busier, the need for updating driving skills as we get older becomes more important and there is a clear need to help people maintain safe driving.

It can be particularly useful to have an assessment before applying to renew your licence as the report can be used to advise DVLA as to how safe you are when driving.

Our aim is to help older drivers continue driving safely for as long as they can.

👉 Read more about the assessment here: www.drivingmobility.org.uk/assessments/older-drivers-retirement-from-driving/

Find your local Driving Mobility centre here: www.drivingmobility.org.uk/find-a-centre/

#MyDrivingMobility #OlderDrivers #DrivingAssessments #DrivingSafety #DrivingSafely
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Member of the Motor Schools Association

IAM Roadsmart Advanced Driver - Aiming to improve driving standards

Member of online site preparing drivers for the UK Driver Theory Test

Pass Plus registered

Member of the Confident Drivers website - Offering additional support for nervous & anxious drivers

Driving Standards Agency
Fully Qualified & Approved Driving Instructor

ROSPA Advanced Driver - Encouraging an interest in road safety, standards and skills