My sister always lifts her feet up in the car when we drive over a bridge and when we go through a tunnel she holds her breath. When I asked her why she did this she responded “so that we make it through safely. If I don’t then the bridge could break and we would fall in the water or the tunnel will collapse on top of us.” Her reasons are fairly common. Many natural disasters are reported on television and many action movies show bridges being destroyed and tunnels being crushed. Many people have a fear of driving over bridges or through tunnels.  I asked her where she learned this superstition from and she responded with “I think I just picked it up. Some of my friends do it when I ride with them. I think mom or grandma may have told me to do it at one point.” As soon as she said this I remembered my mom joking one time about holding my breath while going through a tunnel. My sister is a political science and economics major. She plays water polo and is a member of many “fandoms”. A “fandom” is a group of people who follow, generally, a television show or a novel. Some of the fandoms that she belongs to follow shows such as Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service(NCIS). The group develops terminology that is only understood by other members of the group. For example, many fandoms “ship” certain characters. This means that the members of the fandom or just fans of the show want two characters to become a couple.

Personally, I find driving superstitions to be rather pointless. I think that “lucky” or “good” driving is a matter of ability and how much one is paying attention. If someone chooses to cut you off or hits your car it happens. I have never personally experience a superstition “working” and as a result I don’t believe that they are particularly helpful. At the same time, I don’t mind if my sister wants to partake in the superstition if it makes her feel better.