This is how I rolled my car off the interstate.
(I’m fine!)
I was less than a mile from my exit and I thought I could make it. I was trying to hard to stay awake I ended up driving past several exists. Suddenly, I realized my eyes were closed and I wasn’t sure how long they had been like that. I panicked, afraid I would hit the median, slammed on my brakes and swerved.
Once that happened, I was alert and I knew I couldn’t stop the car from rolling so I let go and let it happen. Apparently, that’s partly why I wasn’t seriously injured. I didn’t tense up and try to brace myself. That and seatbelts/good safety design.
I was scared to drive for awhile but it’s fine now. Though, I never speed. I always pull over if it doesn’t feel right. By that I mean, if I’m tired, if there is bad weather, if my car isn’t driving properly….anything. I don’t risk it.
Other drivers seem annoyed that I’m going the speed limit but I don’t give a fuck.
The only thing that really helps is some shut eye. Take a 20 minute nap, be a little late then to never arrive.
I’ve done that. Taken several naps in random gas station parking lots rather than drive tired.
For me, stopping, getting out, and getting some coffee wakes me up for 2-3 hours. I also listen to audiobooks as I drive to keep my brain working. A good engaging story is better than a nap for me.
Yeah. That’s why they invented cruise control. Just make sure you don’t miss your exit.
We were helping to move a friend from one house to another years ago. It was all rushed with little time to do or plan anything … we had to move truckloads towing trailers full of all their things and drive 400km to make a deadline. And we had to start by driving to them 500km away first! And it all had to happen within 20 hours … it was complete insanity. I ended up driving, packing, working, then driving again non-stop for about 30 hours to everything to the new house. And midway through the trip of hauling everything, we drove through the biggest lightning rain storm I’ve seen in years. The only way to keep things from getting totally soaked was to keep moving.
I remembering driving past the rain and weather and it was 4am and we were dead tired and couldn’t stay awake. We parked on the side of the road and I sat in my driver seat and finally fell asleep. Unfortunately, I was so full of coffee, sugar and food that I couldn’t really sleep … my body went offline and my brain kept racing. I started dreaming that I was still driving and in my driving dream, I kept pushing myself to stay awake and not drift off the road. In my dream, I kept dozing off and wandering on the road. In the dream, I kept scaring myself, held on to the steering wheel and bolted awake again … and again … and again. Finally, still in the dream, I fell asleep and as I dozed off I knew I was drifting off the highway at speed and I could see and feel the truck crashing into the bushes, the trees and into the forest …
I bolted wide awake back into reality, gripped the steering wheel like a madman and slammed on the horn and the brakes as hard as I could … I was still sitting quietly on the highway shoulder. My cousin in the other truck walked over and asked if I was OK and asked why I just sounded my horn.
I was so freaked out by the experience that I stayed awake for the rest of the drive.
I used to have dreams that I was driving a car in busy traffic, but for some reason I was sitting in the back seat. Controlling the car from the back was very disorienting. Like my reaction time was lower cause I was further back. And I had no peripheral vision cause I couldn’t really see out the sides of the car. I wasn’t exactly driving a lot at the time, so I’m not sure what my subconscious was trying to tell me.
Good story. I’ve bookmarked that one.
Keep gum or some type of snack with you on long drives. Your brain is really against falling asleep while chewing
Helps for a little while. But if you still get drowsy when chewing, then your best bet is to park the car, drink a large serving of caffeine and set an alarm for 6 min and go to sleep. You just need to nod off to actually sleep for a couple of min. When you wake up with the alarm, that feeling of being unable to keep eyes open will be gone. The caffeine will start to kick in after 20 to 30 min and you can keep going much more safely. This adds 10 to 15 min to your journey in total.
Obviously depends on your situation. If you’ve not slept at all the previous night and still have 6 hours of driving to go, then accept that you’re fucked and get a room. Save your life and others.
holy shit is that true i need that while I’m working on my computer
Anecdotally, something like gum or jerky to chew on helps me stave off highway hypnosis on longer road trips. I also find stopping and getting out to walk around for a few minutes helps fight the worst of it.
Hiway hypnosis is wild. When I used to commute around 2001, there would be days where I just kind was suddenly at work. It’s terrifying.
Yup, happens to me occasionally, typically on my morning commute when I’m still waking up. Scary as fuck every time.
Livesavers candy got me through several physics lectures in college.
Lately I’ve started taking dove dark chocolates on longer road trips.
And then you bolt awake, with adrenaline now surging, only to be staring at your wall and it’s 4am so you definitely won’t be feeling rested when your alarm goes off.
Good guy brain
this was me back when I had hour plus commute just one way
