I have always had a fear of heights and excessive speed. To me it doesn’t seem irrational. If I have a solid safety harness or rail I have no fear of heights just because they are high but I have an extreme fear of falling. In other area I am more fearless than most. Speed seems to scare me only when I am not driving. I am just wondering how common this is. Rock climbing with out a harness would be out of the question for me.
I would say I’m afraid of both. But what is your threshold for those fears? For example, I’m not afraid to stand on my roof or go 70 on the interstate. But being a hundred feet up or going NASCAR speeds would probably do it, especially without restraints or barriers. Also, like you, I’m more afraid of speed when I’m not in control, although I have scared myself driving before. I don’t usually have a problem with planes, but when the turbulence gets going, my heart leaps into my throat.
Most people probably have some threshold where heights and speed scare them. But everyone draws the line somewhere differently, and there are probably a few wild people who are completely uninhibited.
Also, this should probably be in IMHO.
Those could both be balance issues, or visual perception issues. Balance, like in the inner ear or sinuses is less likely since it doesn’t bother you when you drive. That sounds more like a visual perception issue.
Though not generally afraid of heights, some locations just scare me based on the view. Something makes some views down from the top look enormously out of proportion and I’ve even gotten dizzy once from that.
My height threshold when not strapped, harnessed or guard rails kicks in at about 15ft, no limit with protection.
When it comes to speed I started really panicing in my brothers boat when he was hitting around 75 mph, I still maintained but inside was panicing. With cars it depends more on the road and g forces I am feeling. I am ok up to about 90 on straight road little higher if I am driving. Mountain roads it just depends on the size of the drop and the narrowness of the road.
Yeah, I’m pretty much like this. I don’t call it a fear of heights and speed though; I call it a respect for heights and speed.
I don’t have a fear of falling, but I I do have a fear of dying. Put me somewhere where I can go straight down and I’ll get get nervous. Other than that and I’m ok. Big plunges get a little scary. I’ve been on top of big vertical drops and not been scared. But I do like vertical drops like that. As long as you aren’t going to fall a zillion feet down and die horribly you’ll be OK.