Crossing busy streets and being spooked by loud traffic

Maybe I am being too hard on myself. Maybe I'm not. After the one incident I referred to in another post, it's got me worried. Just one time, even if it's one time in several months or even years...  I know for fact I have issues crossing busy streets. Most of the time I cope pretty well, but on a few rare occasions I go into "auto pilot" and start crossing (read: darting) when I think there may be a clearing just enough to get me through.

Another issue, turning cars...  When I go into that auto pilot mode, I start rounding corners and may not see things outside of what is straight ahead.  It's sort of a temporary form of tunnel vision.  So far the usual triggers seem to be amount of traffic.  I feel more stressed out when there is lots of action happening. Noise is another; especially if a string of semi's and large diesel trucks are crossing by and lacking mufflers. Motorcycles (in Milwaukee there would be more of these known to be "patented" for their especially loud ear-splitting ripping noises...  Cars without mufflers (or at least sound like it) is another...

Most cases I just spook a little but not otherwise affecting my concentration.  Other times if I am especially frazzled over other things, like lack of sleep, fatigue, or whatever... then the spooking may cause me to lose concentration and trigger me to go into some kind of instinctive mode, where I just want to get the heck out of the unpleasant situation.  Most cases even so, I can cope with this pretty well. It's just the "one time" that gets me.

This week I was about to round a corner and didn't see a turning car. He just sort of came up all of a sudden. I bolted but put on my "brakes" as soon as I saw the car and backed quickly back where I was. I could not safely cross until that car got through. I'm sure I shook up the driver as well as myself.
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Do you struggle with loud traffic noises? There's got to be something I can do to stop getting spooked... I can try to think myself to calm down, but it doesn't help. I just get more stressed that I can't control the anxious feeling which is the last thing I need to feel in a situation like that. I don't want to get hit by a car/truck.

I have not tried things like ear plugs lately. I tried it a few times but found rummaging through my back-pack to find the pair and plug them into my ears a bit cumbersome if I am looking for instant relief... By that time the semi has already crossed the overpass, squeaked its breaks and gone and chances are I can get past the overpass by the time I can find the ear plugs and possibly not have the same issue. Heck chances are I can make it to the bus stop by the time I can find the plugs and put them in my ears. Not only that, but I think I need to be able to hear and not block out all sound. When I put plugs in, it tends to amplify sounds like my breathing, heart beat, etc which I really don't care to hear and block out much of the environmental sounds (which isn't totally bad, except for sounds I want/need to hear).

Maybe I'm looking for some behavioral thing I can do on the spot or maybe just some comfort. I'd like to know I am not alone on this issue.

[888mom]

Better  than ear plugs are those portable Cd players/headsets whatever.  You get to hear music.  Though, that would go against blockign out all sound.  When I get spooked, I count or do complex math in my head.  It also keeps me focused on things as well.  Cars are supposed to watch for pedestrians, except they don't.  And well, the law of masses... a car has more mass than a human.  Not good for the human pedestrian.  Pedestrian might have the right of way, but that doesn't help if you end up dead.  Ever play that video game Frogger?  Okay, that's dating myself... so yeah, I grew up in the 80s... but that's how I feel when I have to cross a street sometimes.  I don't have problems crossing streets, but I have problems walking around in parking lots... Those are scary too, with cars competing for close spaces.  I just don't understand why these people will vie for the closest space to the store, yet these are the same people who pay $50 a month to go to a gym to stay physically fit.  They could park farther out and walk and get excercise that way.  These are also the same people that will zoom around a corner, not looking at pedestrians.  I drive a car.  I see people near a street, I slow down thinking they might step out or something.  

[MJIthewriter]

I used to play that game and suck misrably...  Yeah, I feel like the poor frog trying to find a gap just wide enough to dart half way...then the other half...  Thankfully when I walk home from work, about half the time, if not more, someone will stop and let me through. I try to wave a thank you to those who do. They make life a little bit more bearable at times like that.  I feel better when people are nice and I gladly like to exchange the act of kindness.

That is funny... I don't mind walking ot get exercise. In fact I walk home each day from work. That's a considerable amount of blocks, that would probably be better riding my bike, but it's not terribly long.  I enjoy the trip and of course pick non busy streets to enjoy my walk and avoid the busy ones like a contagious disease!

I suspect the person in the car that just about hit me, was probably doing the same. He probably was rounding a corner and I was too... Thankfully I saw him just in time to return to my corner, meanwhile feeling shaken up and a bit steaming mad in the process. I looked up at his face, and he didn't look shaken up, or even a bit happy... I couldn't tell if he was frowning or just serious... That I don't pay much attention to when it comes down to saving my own life, lol.

PS did you send me a pm and I have forgotten to answer... I've been neglecting some pms. If so feel free to send another to remind me. Same with other members who've got unanswered messages for me.

[Sally44]

Life is busy out there.  I think we all have near misses.  The thing is to learn from them.  It's good you are thinking through the situation and what would work best for you.  Try to prepare and think about your journey before you go and sometimes it is helpful just to think through how you will react in a certain situation because then you have almost pre-planned it rather than just blind panic or auto-pilot.  Are you able to 'imagine' situations like that to re-run what you would do in your head.
I understand what you are saying about noises and compensations for that just make you aware of internal body noises.  Would listening to music help?
We live in a small village, but there are more and more large tankers and trucks coming through every day.
I remember going into work one day and my boss told me that on the previous night he had nearly hit me in his car, and I hadn't even noticed!  Apparently I had just walked into the road infront of him.  I don't remember a thing.
On another occasion when I was working abroad, I was driving a car and someone stepped backwards from a side lane and literally landed on the bonnet of my car!  They were very lucky I was only in second gear because the road was busy with tourists.  They were definately in the wrong because the lane joined onto the road with no pedestrian walkway.  But it really shook me up and I remember crying in shock.  I remember getting out of the car and sitting at the side of the road for a good 10 minutes.  Someone came out to offer me a cup of tea!  The person I hit seemed to cope with it better than I did!  And although I did drive the car again, it took me some time to do so.  Not because I was worried about my driving ability, but because tourists in a strange land are so unpredictable.