Panic Freeze Syndrome

Panic Freeze Syndrome is any driver’s worst nightmare! It is a safety critical condition that affects most drivers during emergencies where they just ‘freeze in panic’ and are unable to think or act as normal.

This little-known phenomenon, occurs when drivers are faced with a sudden, emergency driving situation and become completely overwhelmed and immobilised, both mentally and physically. The driver’s cognitive processes stall, preventing them from taking necessary actions to avoid a collision, which can lead to serious incidents, as the driver is unable to react appropriately to the danger ahead.

How does this happen?

Here’s a typical situational example where panic freeze lurks in many drivers. Imagine a driver is travelling at high speed and is momentarily distracted when their eyes and attention are taken away from the road scene. When they look up, they see stationary traffic directly in front of them. Ideally, they should brake hard and steer into the adjacent lane or hard shoulder (if available) to avoid a crash. With ABS, this manoeuvre is feasible as the system prevents wheel lock and allows full directional (steering) control.

Critical characteristics

However Panic Freeze incorporates a variety of driving safety critical characteristics, for example:

• Mental Paralysis is where the driver cannot think clearly or make quick decisions. Their mind goes blank at a moment when decisive action is crucial and is the reason why so many crashes happen.
• Physical Inaction - the driver’s body freezes, meaning they are unable to engage in any physical manoeuvre to avoid the collision (for example steering away or braking).
• Target Fixation is where a driver’s attention becomes fixated on the obstacle ahead, such as a stationary vehicle, where the driver’s eyes are fixated on the actual danger ahead, leading them to inadvertently drive directly into it. When any (or all) of these significant factors happen in an emergency situation, it’s how many preventable crashes happen.

Without wanting to get too technical, the safety critical aspect of panic freeze is worth looking a little deeper into, so drivers are more aware of what happens in these life critical circumstances on the road.
Such profound aspects are known as ‘psychological mechanisms’ which make up the foundations of panic freeze disorder.

Fight or Flight Response

Normally, the body’s natural response to danger is the ‘fight-or-flight’ response, where adrenaline kicks in, and the person either confronts the danger (fight) or avoids it (flight). In the case of Panic Freeze Syndrome, the “freeze” response takes over, which is a less common, but a recognised reaction to extreme stress.

Basically, there is a sensory input overload where the sudden influx of information (seeing a potentially unavoidable obstacle directly in front of them) can overload the brain, causing it to shut down temporarily. This causes a ripple effect and the driver is overcome with the inability to process such a rapid series of events unfolding in front of them, leading to a state of mental and physical paralysis.

Whilst it’s essential to encourage drivers to remain focused on the road at all times and minimise distractions, it’s worth mentioning that these factors will reduce the likelihood of panic freeze situations developing.

Prevention and mitigation strategies

Panic Freeze Syndrome can severely undermine the benefits of modern safety features like Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) which is designed to prevent wheel lock during hard braking, thus allowing drivers to maintain steering control and manoeuvre around obstacles. While ABS is a critical safety feature that enhances a driver's ability to manage emergency situations, its effectiveness can be severely compromised by the Panic Freeze condition.

Understanding how to react during emergencies, including the importance of both braking and steering, can prevent critical incidents and save lives. It’s just one of the reasons we incorporate these life-saving activities as part of our car control and emergency situational coaching sessions. Such training is essential to ensure drivers can leverage ABS to its fullest potential.

Enhancing advanced driver education can help drivers learn how to react in emergency situations, where simulated driving exercises can prepare them for quick decision-making and are something I seriously endorse. Such simulated emergency scenarios can help drivers improve response times and maintain control when making split-second decisions and applying emergency braking and steering inputs.

Risk management

Many critical incidents described in this Blog, can be totally avoided by paying attention to the driving task at all times and enhancing your separation (following) distances from the vehicle in front of you irrespective of whatever speed you are driving at! This simple action achieves a larger ‘safety cell.’ It is NOT rocket science … just good driving practice and enhanced risk management.

Summary

Panic Freeze Syndrome is a serious issue that can lead to catastrophic and life changing incidents. Understanding its mechanisms and taking proactive measures to prevent it, can significantly enhance both driver and road safety. Drivers need to be aware of the risks and be trained to maintain composure in critical situations to avoid falling victim to this paralysing phenomenon.