I am thinking if I were blind in my *right* eye, I might be more inclined to move to a country where they drive on the other side of the road.

In my case, I think I am prone to anxiety anyway. I generally try to drive in non-'rush' hour traffic, keep a distance from other vehicles, drive defensively, etc. I also think in just a few more years, cars will have auto-pilot, and the roads will be safer, even if I cannot personally afford one.

I live in a major metropolitan city in the US. I suddenly and unexpectedly lost all my vision in my right eye 18 months ago. At that point I had already been driving for 10 years. My doctor and family encouraged me to get back on the road immediately to avoid developing a fear of driving. It took me about two weeks to get comfortable turning my head but now I don’t even think about it. My husband jokes that I hang out in the right hand lane more (to avoid having to merge right) and I suppose I do but not really consciously. I am extra cautious in tight parking lots but I am fortunate to have a car with sensors so it beeps at me if I get too close to anything. Happy to answer any specific questions you might have!

Have you had a field of vision assessment? This would tell you how much you actually see. Many lifetime monoculars have a greater FOV than what they think of as the usual area one eye in a pair covers. It's a correction we develop over time and it will increase the area you can cover without you realizing it's happening. That would alleviate some of your anxiety about not seeing everything a binocular driver does. It would also clearly spell out your specific limits and help you explore whether you can work around them. You DO need access to 360 degrees of coverage.

You can also look into driver safety classes that would help you improve your coverage. Smith is an excellent training program for CDL drivers. Don't know if they train others but any new driver training would be helpful for you.

The hard parts are these...

You are a new driver. Anxiety is to be expected. Practice will reality check which parts are inexperience and which are genuine concerns. Vision limits aren't the only reason people don't drive so it's not a big deal unless you make it one. A bus pass is way cheaper than a wrongful death settlement.

Sort the inexperience from the physical/psychological limits and work on them from the perspective that some will get better with time and others either need to be fixed or will mean you can't drive.

As for whipping your head around. If it's causing pain or damage but it's the only way you can see what you need to, you have another limit to driving safely. If you're worried about how others interpret your movements and you let that effect how you drive, you have bigger issues than vision limits. Your steadfast rule SHOULD be personal/public safety. Any action/motion/behavior you need to take to achieve that isn't a compromise point. (Think of it in the same way as seat belts, turn signals or sun glasses.)

My spouse is a city bus driver. He's dealt with every condition you can imagine. He whips his head around like it's a periscope. He's also one of the best drivers I've ever known. He does what he needs to do to keep himself and his vehicles/passengers safe.

I've never driven. I know my limits. My cousin is monocular. He's driven his whole life. His head is turned in such a way that it scares the bejesis out of anyone who sees him because he looks like he's not remotely looking at the road. He has a perfect driving record.

You could be like my cousin or you could be like a friend who lost his eye later in life and cut up his license because he hugged a telephone pole.

Be honest with yourself and do no harm. All else will fall into place.

Yeh for sure. For me (being also blind in my right eye), driving's been easy as. If you can see the other cars, it's really easy to tell how far away they actually are (in fact, I feel like they're a bit further than what it seems like so... Increased safety, maybe?).

In Australia, we drive on the left hand side of the road, so being able to see with my left eye makes it pretty chill since I need only turn my head a little to the left to check behind me on my left side and use the right hand mirror to check on my right (but rarely NEED to). I can see how it would be a little more challenging if in your country they drive on the right hand side of the road though since it's the same side as your blindness.

For me, the hardest about driving with one eye has been the parking and that's really it. Hope that helps :)

Edit: with regards to specific tips though... PRACTICE!! as with every new driver, the more the better, maybe use extended mirrors on your blind side for where your biggest blind spot is