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For some people, the act of driving can be a stressful process, for others, general stresses can have a negative effect that they don´t always realise, because, as stress becomes an increasingly common problem for society as a whole, the consequences can lead to extreme risks when on the road, and a higher probability of an incident.
On the one hand, the stress you suffer due to your life circumstances will influence your driving style, directly impacting accident rates, on the other, the traffic system itself contains many elements that are a source of stress in themselves, such as traffic jams on the way to work.
Stress will therefore become a relatively common occurrence in our cities and on our roads. This is worrying, because stress alters the skills necessary for safe driving (especially your behaviour in traffic) and dangerously increases the risk.
What is stress?
Stress is a normal psychological process that occurs when a strong demand is presented and you do not know how to respond to it in a clear and appropriate manner. If you could respond to that demand immediately and effectively, the situation would be successfully resolved and the negative consequences associated with stress would not occur.
However, if you are unable to respond quickly and effectively, your body will put into action a general emergency mechanism. The bodily changes that this mechanism produces are what you probably know as stress (although you can see that they are actually just one part of the process). In this way, your body tries to prepare itself to face any type of problematic situation.
From the above we can conclude that a certain level of stress is necessary to successfully overcome many situations. However, if the alarm response becomes too intense or is prolonged for a long time, stress can go from being an adaptive mechanism to being a serious health problem.
In traffic situations, displays of stress are often unhelpful, counterproductive and increase safety risks.
For example, if you find yourself stuck in a traffic jam and you are in a hurry, you may develop a stress response: your blood pressure, heart rate and muscle tone will increase. However, none of this will help you get out of the jam, but it can easily make the perception of the situation worse, and lead to impulsive or aggressive behaviour.
How does stress affect driving?
The stress process is divided into three phases: alarm reaction, resistance phase and exhaustion phase. Each of these affects driving in a certain way, although in general the most prominent are changes in your behaviour: aggressiveness, hostility, competitiveness, impatience, impulsiveness, less caution, reckless behaviour, and less respect for the rules.
How to mitigate the effects of stress while driving
When faced with stress, the best solution is always to avoid driving as much as possible and to seek professional help. This will minimise the duration and intensity of the stressful period and teach you techniques to prevent it from happening again in the future.
In short, if you are experiencing significant effects of stress, you should drive with special caution. During the most critical phase of stress, you should avoid driving your vehicle as much as possible (especially if you are taking medication). However, if driving is essential, do so with extreme caution and try not to let driving situations cause you more stress.
You can read a more detailed explanation of this condition, as well as recommendations from the DGT, on the n332.es website.
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