# Are some people just afraid of bridges? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886 "2013-08-10T18:36:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/41 "2013-08-13T22:01:10Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > And when I drove on the Confederation Bridge: [Confederation Bridge - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederation_Bridge), I was really disappointed that the side rails were built up so high that you couldn’t see the ocean below. This is the one I came in to mention, since it is the most recent one to unsettle me. I didn’t see any side rails, I just saw not much between me and hurtling over the side. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/42 "2013-08-13T22:08:09Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > The Chesapeake Bay Bridge (Lane Bridge) in Maryland is also considered infamous for frightening people. Problem is, it’s a major thoroughfare between DC and Baltimore on the west and the Eastern Shore (Ocean City MD, Rehoboth, Chincoteague) on the east. There’s a business that makes money renting drivers to people to drive their cars over the bridge. Just recently, there was a [accident](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372054/Woman-SURVIVES-car-knocked-Chesapeake-Bay-Bridge--bridge-scary-people-pay-25-professional-drive-across.html) on the bridge where a car was pushed off the bridge after being hit by a truck and the driver survived by climbing onto a piling until a boat came by. I’ve driven over this bridge lots of times. Great trip, very scenic. Hate that bridge but the reward of the beaches keeps me going. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/43 "2013-08-13T22:43:58Z")
> [@Blakeyrat](#): > > Driving the [non-suspension portion of the SF Bay Bridge](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/800px-EasternSFOBBSkyExt.jpg) (I guess it’s called the Eastern Span?) kind of creeped me out, I’m not ashamed to admit. They’re rebuilding the thing, thank God… the new one looks a lot more solid. > > … You might not be happy to learn that several of the seismic safety bolts broke, and there has recently been a lot of debate as to whether or not the new bridge span will open on Labor Day with a temporary fix in place: > **[Bay Bridge could open on Labor Day weekend after all](https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/08/13/bay-bridge-could-open-on-labor-day-weekend-after-all/)** > > Bay Bridge could open on Labor Day weekend after all ---
**Author:** ![Poto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ab992/32.png) [@Poto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/44 "2013-08-13T22:59:29Z")
I have a general type of car related claustrophobia, so I have a hard time driving in any fast and tightly packed type of traffic. I can do it depending on speed. But the bridges and tunnels are the same. If they have no shoulder I feel there is no place to “bail out”. Generally I can’t drive the middle lane for long, only to pass grannies. Left hand exits are about the worst, worse than a long bridge. My one friend cannot drive on the bridge if he sees the water, so he drives the middle lane. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/45 "2013-08-13T23:01:50Z")
My sister and I are/were both afraid of bridges. I occasionally have a recurring dream where I’m crossing a bridge by walking across some high, rickety footpath while the cars are on steadier ground down below. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/46 "2013-08-13T23:11:34Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Heh. It should be noted that that view seems to be shot with a long lens, and the foreshortening makes the ramp appear much more extreme than it is. The Google street view of the approach is closer to the impression you get actually driving it: > > [Google Maps](https://maps.google.com/maps?q=san+mateo+bridge&ll=37.570467,-122.265773&spn=0.032552,0.049567&fb=1&gl=us&hq=san+mateo+bridge&cid=0,0,11186988506754686564&t=m&z=15&layer=c&cbll=37.570286,-122.265951&panoid=oiF-wxDw9kVJjQbga8Jgbg&cbp=12,42.16,,0,10.91) I think that the Street View fish-eye images do not really capture the bridge–they error in the other direction. There is definitely a sense of going _up_ at the initial part of the bridge. It is like the beginning of a roller coaster. That is when you have your car in fourth and are going 65. When stop the climb and start the gradual decline, you shift to fifth and take it to 100. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/47 "2013-08-13T23:47:46Z")
I’d be scared to cross [Todd Bridges](http://cdn.straightfromthea.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/alg_todd_bridges.jpg). Just sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/48 "2013-08-14T06:00:10Z")
> [@11811](#): > > My sister and I are/were both afraid of bridges. I occasionally have a recurring dream where I’m crossing a bridge by walking across some high, rickety footpath while the cars are on steadier ground down below. In my recurring nightmares, I’m driving too fast on a cliff-side road with gaping gaps. Sometimes the road is Caliornia’s Highway 1; sometimes I’m in the foothills to the east of that Coast Range. I don’t ride ferris wheels since the time I embarrassed myself by needing to get off. On an airplane once, the stewardess said how happy she was to have strong sober-looking men seated with her next to the emergency door. Worrying about the Imp of the Perverse, I asked about opening the door in flight. She didn’t think it posssible … but stopped flirting with me after that. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/49 "2013-08-14T06:55:59Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > I’d be scared to cross [Todd Bridges](http://cdn.straightfromthea.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/alg_todd_bridges.jpg). Just sayin’. _Wha Cho Takin’ Bout?_ ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/50 "2013-08-14T08:19:36Z")
> [@Fluke54](#): > > I hate bridges. I had to drive over the Sunshine State Skyway in St. Petersburg and I still get sweaty thinking about it. It’s only bad when only the top of the span is clear of fog. You fly up into bright sun, then plunge into the abyss again. No problems with bridges, but Tuuuuuuuunnels… Hijack to say my earliest experience with the Sunshine Skyway was in the fifties (single span, two lanes) when my grandfather stopped on the top and we all got out to look at the whale shark down below. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886/51 "2013-08-14T15:06:21Z")
> [@bahimes](#): > > No problems with bridges, but Tuuuuuuuunnels… “Paging Dr. Freud…” 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-some-people-just-afraid-of-bridges/665886.md?page=2)