Fearless_Firefly: “There’s a truck driver, who comes once a month,” Sweeney said. “He gets into a sleeper behind the cab and lays down for the whole trip [under a blanket]. It’s amazing.”
Not afraid of crossing bridges but I would totally do this
Gridungr: >For some people, however, even being chauffeured over the bridge is too much. Sweeney said his own brother-in-law is too afraid to drive across the Mackinac Bridge and, as a result, has never been to his home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which is joined to the state’s Lower Peninsula by the bridge.
“Surprisingly, there’s a lot of people who [have this] phobia,” Sweeney said. “I just found out my brother-in-law is so afraid they stay [on the other side of the bridge.]”
I’m sure that’s why they don’t visit
molotovzav: Makes sense it has to do with the fear of being trapped. I’m pretty good with bridges , but tunnels in the Bay area go on for so long I get claustrophobic pretty bad. Being stuck in traffic on the golden gate, I had a similar feeling of being trapped (only brige that I’ve had this). Not a big enough irrational fear for me to call those guys lol, but enough for it to be super unpleasant.
rytis: I saw that sentence about the bridge collapse, and then had to do a double take at the date of the article, 2013. Whew.
sumpinstupid: I drive the bridge 15-20 times a year heading to school from downstate, it’s a more terrifying than normal bridge because the safety rails on the side do NOT seem big enough to keep a car from losing control and flying right over the edge, especially in snowy conditions. It’s a beautiful bridge though.
pjmcfunnybunny: The thing that makes it especially scary is the grated road. The sound of it and the wind throwing you all over the place. They shut it down whenever the winds are over 50 mph. Scary!
guacamole-y: For those who DON’T have a fear of driving across this bridge — every Labor Day, the bridge is closed down for 6 hours for anyone who wants to walk across the bridge. You can walk against the railing or the metal grate that looks down onto the water. Really cool. Strongly encourage it.
nadam42: Chesapeake Bay bridge tunnel is 23 miles yet we don’t have anything like that (as far as I know of)
badtothematt: My grandfather is I believe the only person to fall off the bridge while building it and survive. He fell flat on his back onto a steel barge and broke nearly every bone. I have more info when I get home from work. His name is Ward Parks
pascalsgirlfriend: Bucket list item to add.
Polar—Bear: Drove across it earlier this fall at midnight in a storm. Fun times.
jesbiil: Crossed it a few times while living in Michigan and always loved it, just a beautiful bridge and area. That whole Northern part of Michigan on up into the UP is just a gorgeous area. I never did so during the winter though, I feel I could do it but ice on that bridge does not sound fun and there was almost always ice on the roads up there through the winter.
Predictive: I’ve often taken the bridge, (technically a causeway) across Lake Pontchartrain and it’s around 23 miles long. New Orleans is my reward.
ghallway: Tunnels I can handle, but not that bad boy. The closer I got to it, the more I kept feeling like I was going to be swept over the side. Buddy took the wheel and I looked at the floorboards. I thought he was jerking the wheel to screw with me and I told him to stop. He said he wasn’t doing it, he was fighting the wind. We were n a late 70’s Volare, a huge, heavy old car. Couldn’t wait to drive on the ground again. A few hours later were driving through Marquette in a whiteout. Wasn’t nearly as scared as I was on that damn bridge.
ForbiddenText: Scary as hell as a ten year old in the passenger seat of an 18 Wheeler. I’d have been pretty proud of myself had I known about this.
jabmsn: It is the coolest bridge to drive over especially when a storm is coming in😵
itsnotgonnabeok: This is understandable. I once drive across the bridge into Prince Edward island. It’s 8 miles long. After the first mile you can’t see land in any direction all you can see is the ocean and the bridge. It looks like that bridge could stretch into eternity.
nonameforyou1234: Seems I read a Yugo blew off the bridge years ago.
Phredex: Fun Facts:
Two vehicles have fallen off the bridge.
On September 22, 1989, Leslie Ann Pluhar died when her 1987 Yugo plunged over the 36-inch-high (91 cm) railing. A combination of high winds and excessive speed was initially blamed.[27] Later investigation showed the driver had stopped her car over the open steel grating on the bridge’s span and that a gust of wind through the grating blew her vehicle off the bridge,[28] although this is not supported by recorded wind speed measurements taken on and around the bridge at the time of the accident.[29][30]
On March 2, 1997, Richard Alan Daraban drove a 1996 Ford Bronco over the edge. It was later determined to be a suicide.[31]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackinac_Bridge
I have been over it a couple of hundred times probably. However, not in a Yugo.
Gingersnap5322: Going next year can’t wait!
ScumbagSolo: Here is a photo I think shows just how long this bridge is. https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8296/7983938053_69950b121d_b.jpg
Strapnfap: All the bridges in NYC offer similar aid.
ColdEnlightenment: Can you imagine trying to drive over this during a huge snowstorm? You would be slipping and sliding all over the bridge. Especially if it is covered in ice…
1lapulapu: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge has a similar service.
JanetCrosscheck: As a student in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I remember being shown making-of films over the years in school, replete with details about the worker deaths, such as the men encased in Mackinac’s pillars when they fell into the setting concrete. I think of them every time I have crossed it.
In the UP, we often referred to those in the Lower Peninsula as trolls.
‘Cause they live under the bridge, eh?
Grolschisgood: 5 miles is like 8k. That would be an awesome bridge, just think of the view! Im sad for those people that hate it, coz it jist sounds so cool!
biga204: I’d probably take advantage of this. I had to drive over the Lions Gate in Vancouver on vacation. I was in the center lane with a hard focus on the road in front and my palms were still sweating.
XeroAnarian: Interesting… [We have a bridge in my area that is almost as long and slightly taller and there’s no service like that.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Skyway_Bridge) There are suicide hotline phones at the top, though, because it’s become a hotspot for jumpers.
asshole_for_a_reason: The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is like 25 miles long. The whole thing is over water. I’ve never heard of anyone being scared of driving over it.
Also, aren’t people more scared of flying than driving because of the lack of control?
This whole thing seems like bs to me.
Tristan401: The only thing I got from that article is that whoever wrote it never got the memo about states abbreviations being changed
Ohm_eye_God: TIL that I have [gephyrophobia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gephyrophobia)
MonacoE92: 7 mile bridge in the Keys needs this.
MasoKist: Former agoraphobic here – this is fantastic!!!
AverageJoe5555: I’ve been across it twice — as a passenger. To tell ya the truth, I’d rather have been driving it. I don’t like to be a passenger when something freaks me out. I like to be the one in control.
ToBePacific: I’m not surprised. I rode as a passenger across it once, and I was pretty uneasy the whole way through.
JanetCrosscheck: This was instituted around the time at person committed suicide by crashing their Yugo into the rail and going over. Tragic, but it did cause them to reexamine the rail design and to make certain the bridge is closed during gale force winds, or if a storm causes falling ice. They didn’t usually do that, prior to this incident.
JetpackKiwi: My Mum nearly had a freak out while we crossed this bridge. I wish we had known of these crew members.
Errohneos: Man, I don’t even like being on the tiny floating Hood Canal bridge.
DJCHERNOBYL: What about the 7 mile bridge to the keys
ButThisIsRidiculous: Pronounced Mak-in-aw.
aeropagitica: It’s not the only one – the Chesapeake Bay Bridge also has this service available:
OmgSignUpAlready: I drive the atchafalaya basin bridge about 4 times a year. Its long, low, and over a swamp that’s probably only a few feet deep in places.
It’s also narrow as hell.
I’m always a little amped up when I drive over it. I don’t like it very much.
I think I’d do pretty poorly with the makinac bridge.
WellSaltedHarshBrown: I used to do the bridge walk when I was a kid. It was weird when you got to the grated section, you can see the water very far below you and it almost feels like those holes are just big enough for your tiny feet to…
Side note, the name is pronounced Mack-ih-naw. Not mack-ih-nack.
mhern72: I always felt like it was the height of the bridge which caused my fears. I can drive over most bridges, but when they are super high or have a steep climb, I’m a puddle. It’s literally a physical sensation of feeling like I’m going to faint. The Chicago Skyway is one that has a steeper than normal climb, but I can still manage to cross because it’s not very long.
reitau: Quick one. Is program and programme interchangeable in US? Program in U.K. Relates to computerised systems but Programme seems more apt here? Sorry for ignorance if it’s common knowledge.
Raichu7: If you can’t drive yourself why would it help getting someone else to drive?
DSterling214: Because the weather is crazzzzzzzy and the edge looks like this! Took this slo-mo from the car.
Balerinom: That bridge drive was a fucking delight. Biggest bridge I ever drove across before then was the relatively piddly Erskine bridge. I enjoyed it so very much – the sound, the breeze, the views. Win.
ccwmind: Bay Bridge in Maryland has enough people with a primal fear of bridges that a small cottage business exist to serve a dozen commuters a day. I do not fear the bridges but never cross them during a thunderstorm. Two hundred feet above the bay with sixty mile gust with whiteout rain is no joke with the narrow lanes.
B_J_Bear: The article says many people who are afraid to cross bridges are suffering from agoraphobia – it then goes on to define agoraphobia as the fear of feeling trapped.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that claustrophobia? I thought agoraphobia was the fear of open spaces and that’s why people who suffer severe agoraphobia can end up being shut-ins?
It makes sense that people afraid of crossing the bridge would be experiencing a form of agoraphobia if it is the fear of open spaces…that’s one big fucking open space!
JavierTheNormal: I’ll be honest, that picture makes me a little afraid.
Lapee20m: I’m a lifelong Michigan resident and did not know this was an option.
Fun side note: you can walk this bridge once per year, on Labor Day. They have been doing this bridge walk every year since the bridge opened.
socsa: The Bay bridge in Maryland used to have this service too. Not sure if they still do or not.
tbnyedf7: Crossed Mackinac both ways on the inside (open steel grate) lane. The outside lane was closed for maintenance. Crossed the one remaining Sunshine Skyway Bridge (2-lanes, two-way traffic twice with open steel grate at the top section. Both of these on a motorcycle. Only phobia was keeping the damn bike upright
Starionn: It doesn’t look that crazy in the safety of home, but it must get more intense the longer you’re on it.
StarkRavingNormal: I want to do this just so I can stick my head out the window and look down through the grating. It is a bit hard to do that when you are driving.
razumdarsayswhat: The [Chesapeake Bay Bridge](https://content.newsinc.com/jpg/1847/29422262/23767950.jpg?t=1437657060) from Annapolis to Kent Island has a similar service, as many people are afraid to drive it themselves. It’s smaller than this one, at 4.3 miles. It’s a pretty unnerving drive in a bad thunderstorm or rain storm for sure, and they often close it due to high winds.
JohnMarston208: The Confederation Bridge is 8 miles and we don’t have a system like this, that I know of.
