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I'm scared to drive over bridges!

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With up to 60% of the nations bridges in "unsatisfactory" shape as defined by your DOT's strutural engineers you have a good reason to be afraid.
 
1989 earthquake - part of the bay bridge fell into the lower deck. i saw the video of the car flying over and into where the bridge "broke" and flew into the lower deck.

kinda frightening since then.

also standing on the golden gate above water, you can't help but feel you're swaying and the wind is going to blow you over and into the water.

as long as you don't explicitly tell someone it's a bridge they don't always freak out. i mean in theory, they should also be afraid of elevated portions of freeways, because you can fly off of that also.
 
Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
There used to be a bridge on the Merritt Parkway here in Connecticut that was notorious for scaring the bejeezus out of people. It was pretty tall and had weak looking guardrails which was bad enough. What really freaked people out was that is was a steel grid deck. Rather than a solid roadway it was like driving over a sewer grate, you could look out the car windows and see right through the road all the way down to the water below. It gave even brave drivers the creeps. And to make matters worse, the steel grids gave such a small contact patch with the tires that it was slippery even when dry and when it was raining it was like a skating rink. Pretty funny, when it was raining car would approach the bridge at highway speeds and jam on their brakes right before the deck and cross as 10 mph while the drivers had a white-knuckle death grip on the steering wheel.

It's gone now, it got replaced with a normal asphalt deck and I kind of miss it. That bridge had character.
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I remember that bridge, gave me a good scare the 1st few times I drove on it, got used to it soon enough.
 
I'm always a little more nervous on bridges.. or perhaps a little more cautious is more appropriate.
And a little more cautious when zooming along at 65 near things that I don't want to run into.

My drive to work: if I go off the road, most of the way I end up in field. So, I'm not nervous, even when the roads are bad from ice and snow.
 
Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt
There used to be a bridge on the Merritt Parkway here in Connecticut that was notorious for scaring the bejeezus out of people. It was pretty tall and had weak looking guardrails which was bad enough. What really freaked people out was that is was a steel grid deck. Rather than a solid roadway it was like driving over a sewer grate, you could look out the car windows and see right through the road all the way down to the water below. It gave even brave drivers the creeps. And to make matters worse, the steel grids gave such a small contact patch with the tires that it was slippery even when dry and when it was raining it was like a skating rink. Pretty funny, when it was raining car would approach the bridge at highway speeds and jam on their brakes right before the deck and cross as 10 mph while the drivers had a white-knuckle death grip on the steering wheel.

It's gone now, it got replaced with a normal asphalt deck and I kind of miss it. That bridge had character.
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That's probably the best description of how I sometimes feel when I'm driving over bridges. At the top of the Bay Bridge, you are driving over metal grates (although, thank God, you don't see through them) and the sound creeps me out and I'm driving with my fists clenched the whole time.
 
in maryland at the Bay Bridge, which is pretty long they actually have people at the start of the bridge that will drive your car across for you, because i guess there are enough people who are scared they need it
 

My dad has a fear of driving under railroad overpasses when a train is moving on them. Thinks the train is going to derail on top of him.

Drove over this one twice this past week.

n 1989, a tragic accident captured the front pages of state newspapers. Leslie Pluhar's 1987 Yugo, a small car, plunged from the bridge more than 150 feet to the straits below. It was the first vehicle to fall off the five-mile span since it opened. Gale force winds blowing from the northwest helped lift her car off the roadway and over the side.
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EDIT: forgot to add, my Aunt is now dating that woman's widowed husband.
 
forget about bridges over water. a few years ago, i was with my mother and she decided to take the HOV lane in miami (i-95 right beyond ives dairy road, if you know where that is) which goes pretty far into the air and makes the commute a mere 1-mile shorter. she panicked on the top of the HOV lane (she's afraid of heights) and decided to go 30mph instead of the standard 65mph. keep in mind that the HOV lane is a single lane and there is no way of passing. when she finally got off the "bridge," the guy in back of her got so pissed off that he decided to stop short -- on the 65mph highway -- with her directly behind him.

she didn't hit him, but i think she learned her lesson never to ride on that lane again.

as for me, i'm glad the guy didn't get out of his car at that point and pull out a gun.
 
The Lake Ponchartrain Causeway is pretty fun too. It's so long and so low that for a big stetch of it you can't see land in any direction.
 
i've heard of people having that problem. doesn't bother me much, although if i'm riding in a car and can look right out over the edge, then it gets a little scary.
 
Originally posted by: StormRider
You're not alone. I'm scared of bridges too.

What's worse is that my mom likes to gamble sometimes so I have to drive her over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to Dover Downs or Atlantic City. I hate driving over that bridge! And they are doing construction on it now so they close the middle westbound lane -- even more scary!

Actually the last time I drove it wasn't that bad going east bound. It seemed like they paved it so I didn't get the feeling of driving over metal rails. The west bound was still bad for me.

If only they would allow slots in Laurel or something -- then I would never have to drive over that bridge again.
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Dude, that bridge is TOTALLY awesome. It is kind of unnerving how (at least it used to be) basically transparent - wire rail pavement.

I like big bridges. One of my goals is to see and drive over every f'ing one of them in the US. Usually really cool architecture is reserved for things like government buildings and other unentertaining places you don't want to be (museums, etc.) - but bridges are teh different. They serve a purpose and look cool at the same time. Tunnels are a cheap cop-out. If you're afraid of it collapsing under you, (I used to be) - merge in behind a vehicle larger than yours and follow by a few lengths. Say to yourself "Okay, it didn't break underneath them, so my car won't do jackshit." - and even if it DOES break under them, you have stopping distance.
 
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