Dreaming About Car Accidents All Of A Sudden? Here's What It Could Be Telling You

If you've been dreaming about car accidents, according to professional dream interpreter Lauri Loewenberg, it's likely that something in your life has come to a sudden (and potentially messy) stop. As she explains, "Cars take us places, they move forward, so they usually represent something in progress and moving forward, whether that's a relationship, career project, or a health goal."

So for the car to crash, then, represents a sudden ending—or perhaps an extended pause—on whatever that situation is in your real life. But it can also relate to literal accidents or mistakes you've made, with Loewenberg noting that if you "wrecked" something in your life, it would make sense to dream of wrecking your car.

And sometimes, she adds, our dreams can be a reflection of our emotional state as well. In some cases, car crash dreams can also be connected to an energetic or emotional "crash" you're feeling in your life (i.e., feeling burned out or exhausted).

If you're the one driving the car when it crashed, according to Loewenberg, this dream is likely connected to something that you were previously in control of in your real life—emphasis on that past tense.

Now, what if you were just a passenger and someone else caused the accident? In this case, Loewenberg tells mindbodygreen you might feel like you're "along for the ride" of someone else's mishaps or mistakes.

If you dreamed you crashed into a tree, this dream could very well be speaking to a family problem. Dream symbolism often deals with wordplay and word associations, and we all have a "family tree" that we're connected to.

It's one thing if you're alone in the car when you crash—but according to Loewenberg, having a passenger likely means that person is involved in whatever situation this dream is mirroring in real life.

According to Loewenberg, dreaming of a head-on collision typically means whatever "crash" or ending you're experiencing in real life likely involved some sort of confrontation.

What if you dreamed you crashed your car because you got distracted? "If that's the cause of the crash," Loewenberg tells mindbodygreen, "that would be a message from the subconscious that you've taken your focus off some situation or some relationship and because of that, it has crashed and burned."

We talked about head-on collisions, but what about being rear-ended? In this case, Loewenberg says, being rear-ended indicates something from your past is causing an issue in the present.

According to Loewenberg, where you crash matters just as much as who you're with or why the accident happened. And if you crashed into a ditch in the dream, it may represent feeling depressed but could also relate to "ditching" something.

If you dreamed you crashed into a large tractor-trailer, according to Loewenberg, this one is likely speaking to a work problem. As she explains, trucks tend to represent work in dreams, though they can also symbolize a "heavy load" you're carrying.

As aforementioned, dreams have a funny way of using wordplay, and when else do we hear the term "roll over?" When we roll over to someone else's demands, of course. And Loewenberg says that could be what this dream is speaking to: metaphorically "rolling over" for someone else against your own wishes.

Last but not least, if you dreamed you crashed into snow, the specifics of that weather could be mirroring cold emotions you're experiencing in your life, whether those emotions are your own or someone else's.

Interpreting any dream comes down to getting clear on how you felt in the dream, how you reacted to the dream plot, and how those themes connect to things you're going through in real life.

"As always," Loewenberg tells mindbodygreen, "look at what you thought about in the dream—what ran through your head right before the crash, the emotions you felt, if you thought you were going to die, etc."

You're likely aware that something in your life has come to a stop or end (or is about to, soon enough), and this dream is your subconscious playing out that ending while you sleep.