WASHINGTON – After seeing the images over and over – the crushed concrete, the mangled cars, the twisted girders – there’s just something about crossing a bridge that doesn’t seem so appealing anymore.
Jay Fenton understands.
For 20 years, he was paralyzed by bridges. Upon approach, his breathing became shallow, his hands clammy with sweat. The feeling of imminent death would send pinpricks all over his head.
The best thing to do is not to avoid fear but to deal with it, said Fenton, 58, of Annapolis, Md.
As the shock of the Minneapolis freeway bridge collapse sets in, so too will people’s apprehension of bridges, experts believe.
For some travelers, that might simply mean a general unease on the daily commute. For a few who were a little afraid already, the incident could push their fears into a full-blown phobia.
Experts, however, are quick to differentiate mere increased apprehension from outright phobia of bridges – known as gephyrophobia.
“And for people already phobic, this could be like taking what’s already there and lighting a match to it,” said Jerilyn Ross, a Washington, D.C., psychotherapist and president of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America.
What makes the Minneapolis disaster so frightening, experts say, is the unpredictability of it and the omnipresence of the horrific scenes. But most of all, the anxiety stems from the it-could-have-been-me factor.
Experts, however, are quick to differentiate mere increased apprehension from the irrational fear and outright phobia of bridges.
Phobia is also as much a fear of the feelings one gets – fear of the fear – as it is about any particular subject.
“My fear, for example, was never that the bridge would fall,” Fenton said, “but that I’d get so panicked and dizzy that I’d pass out and drive off and kill myself.”
He’s not alone out there. So many drivers have had trouble willing themselves across the 2.4-mile-long, 186-foot-high Chesapeake Bay Bridge that authorities started a free program for them several years ago. Drivers could call an hour ahead to have an emergency roadway technician or police officer hop into their car and personally drive them across the span.
The program, however, proved too popular. Last year, after the number of “drive-overs” reached 4,000, the Maryland Transportation Authority decided something had to change. Two companies in Kent Island won the contract and now provide the service.
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