Driving Again After a Serious Accident

Many people develop an extreme fear of driving after a serious accident. Such fear can deeply affect your life and even increase your risk of another accident. To overcome these obstacles, you should address your fear. You should also receive compensation if your fear rises to the level of a mental health problem.

Tips to Overcome Your Fears

You need time to overcome your driving fears. The following tips can enhance your recovery.

Start Small

You might panic if you resume driving as if nothing has happened to you. Start small and ease your way into your normal driving routine. For example, you can even start as a passenger before getting behind the wheel. Get someone you trust to drive you around on short trips until you regain confidence.

Once you regain your confidence, start with short errands or even short leisure driving. For example, you can volunteer for short errands such as grocery shopping. Drive slowly and ensure your maneuvers are careful and methodological.

Don't Avoid the Scene

Don't avoid the accident scene, for example, by taking longer routes to work. The experience might fester in your subconscious and worsen without your knowledge. Accept what happened and drive through the scene if you have to. The experience will bolster your confidence behind the wheel.

Share Your Experience

Don't avoid the accident as a conversation topic, just like you should not avoid the accident scene. You may even find it helpful to go out of your way and share your experience with others. Talk with family members and trusted friends. Join support groups for people going through comparable experiences. That way, you don't bottle up the negative emotions and choke on them.

Take Defensive Driving Classes

Hesitancy and anxiety might plague your first driving sessions after an accident. Such things increase your risk of a crash. For example, you might hesitate too much when merging or changing lanes. Take defensive driving classes to help you overcome such issues. The classes improve your driving skills and safety by teaching you to anticipate and respond to different situations.

Get Professional Help

Lastly, you may need professional help to help you overcome your fears. Ask your loved ones, friends, or family doctor for a therapist referral if you don't have one already. Therapists use their provisional skills and experiences to help people overcome mental health issues. Below are some treatment methods your therapist may use:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy that helps you to recognize and change the troubling behaviors and thoughts
• Medications, such as those that dampen anxieties
• Hypnotherapy that creates a mind-body connection and helps you to concentrate and confront your fears

Your therapist may use a combination of these treatments or other techniques to help you.

Compensation

The defendant should compensate you for all damages related to your accident, including your mental health issues. Below are tips to prove your case and win maximum damages.

Get Medical Care

Professional help helps you overcome driving fear and prove your case in court. Follow your therapist's advice closely to prove your damage-mitigation efforts to the defendant. Use your medical records to prove your treatment costs.

Prove Physical Injuries

Mental health problems are difficult to prove because they are invisible. Proving mental health problems without physical injuries is even harder. Prove your physical injuries and link them to your anxiety to strengthen your case.

Use Expert Testimony

Expert witnesses use their education and experience to shed light on issues the average person does not understand. Get a mental health expert to help the court understand the issues you are dealing with.

Contact   Borbi, Clancy & Patrizi, LLC, to evaluate your medical records, injuries, and accident to determine your damages. We will also use our legal knowledge and experience to help you pursue the damages.