In March 2025, South-East Queensland (Australia) experienced the first landfalling cyclone in 50 years. Research on driving during extreme storm events has typically focused on the decision to evacuate, while comparatively little attention given to non-evacuation driving decisions. We collected data from 319 participants on their decisions to drive in the build-up, crossing, and aftermath of Tropical Cyclone Alfred. We asked participants about where they drove, when they drove, and what the reasons were for the journeys. We also asked participants to tell us about their experiences on the road following Alfred, when there was widespread flooding and power outages, leading to a large number of uncontrolled junctions which presented substantial risk to drivers. In our presentation, we will also show experimental data exploring attitudes towards driving during a cyclone, and adaptive driving behaviours that individuals adopted when faced with cyclonic conditions in a driving simulator after a fictional news media warning. We find that the reasons people say they would drive in a cyclone are not necessarily the same as reasons they did drive. The factors that determine which individuals are more likely to drive are remarkably consistent across an experiment in controlled conditions and actual behaviour during Tropical Cyclone Alfred. These findings provide important insights into perception of risk and travel decision-making. Understanding why and how individuals decide to drive in extreme weather is essential for developing effective storm-preparedness messaging and clearly communicating the real risks associated not only with the event itself, but also with its often underestimated aftermath.