Asleep Behind the Wheel

[nissangirl74]

Have you ever nodded off or fought sleep while behind the wheel? I have and until I read this article, I never realized how big a problem it really was. It doesn't happen often, I can usually drive for hours; but when the feeling hits me, I can't shake it. Anybody else ever had this problem?

http://www.thecarconnection.com/marty-b ... and+Blogs)

[PEZi]

i get too calm behind the wheel of a car..... this happens to me frequently thus i have to plan things accordingly for roadtrips (energy drinks, breaks for food etc.)

[Dittoz7]

Something usually starts to rattle and usually breaks before I get a chance to catch a snooze.

[Warped161]

i watched a guy in front of me this morning nod off. he drove onto the sidewalk of a hess station hopped up and down on the entrance and exit curbs and almost clipped a car that was pulling out. im betting he was awake after that. I have issues with long trips and sleep as well.

[Pento240sx]

Interesting article. I have nooded off that, with a quick stop, shot of a 5 hour and loud techno or heavy metal I stay awake.

[nissangirl74]

For me, I have to be in the right state of mind to drive. stimulants are usually ineffective on me (the legal ones anyway). I can drink a cup of coffee, eat a Snickers bar, and go straight to bed and sleep like a baby for 10 hours.

[Speedy7_7]

I fell asleep once, and only that once will I ever fall asleep behind the wheel. 4 A.M. I was driving to my wifes cabin. rural wisconsin, two guys asleep in the back, she was asleep in the passenger seat. I felt the long blink come and jerked awake. I thought to myself "keep the eyes open" next thing I remember was waking up at 70 half in the left ditch. I didn't even think before jerking the wheel to the right. I over corrected and spun twice across the highway and into the right ditch. Everyone was ok, the car was fine. The state trooper that was 100 yards behind me thought we were going to die. After he made sure I wasn't drunk, he told me to stay awake while driving. No problem, I will never fall asleep again. That was the most terrifying thing I have ever done.

[nissangirl74]

I had a friend in high school who fell asleep behind the wheel and drove off an embankment near a river. She was in a neck brace for a month and lost the feeling in her left hand for most of the rest of the school year. Her face after that wreck still haunts me to this day. I remember it every time I get sleepy and I pull over.

[C-Kwik]

My friend was on a trip when she was hit head on by someone who fell asleep at the wheel. She got off lucky as she only had to have 2 vertebrae fused. Her boyfriend's daughter was killed in the accident. I believe she was about 5 years old. Kill yourself on the road...fine. Kill someone else and that s*** will haunt you for the rest of your life. There is no shame in pulling over to get some shut eye.

[jona300zx]

I have nodded about three times total... i guess at the moment you are too busy trying to keep yourself awake that you disregard the danger you are in and the potential harm you can cause on yourself and others. will definitely keep this in mind next time im sleepy!

[es.biggs]

I have nodded maybe 3 or 4 times. Scary stuff...Last time I did it was in the summer when I had my Z parked while the motor was out. I was driving to the garage to work on it, and I dozed off, and I got the passenger side of the car off the road and woke up really fast. By far the closest call I've ever had. Now, I stop and get some coffee first when I'm tired and I need to drive.

I think that last time was partly due to the fact that I was driving my moms car - the most boring, sleep-inducing car known to man - the Ford Taurus.

[Oatmealman]

Only once and it was in my dime,I woke up just in time to the see the embankment i was gonna jump up.Let's just say dukes o' hazzard ain't to fun right after you nod off at the wheel.It was a really rural area of Wisconsin and i went down into the ditch,and saw the driveway that had a probably 35-40 degree slant to it and i hit it doing 45-50. Otherwise I've never nodded off and I've driven for 10-12 hours at a time and been fine.

[frapjap]

I've nodded off twice. The first time was late at night driving across the state to Tampa and I ran over the rumble strips. MAN, do those babies work!
The second time was in the panhandle of Florida after 2 very long working days. At the time they were testing this technology that was built into the painted lines on the side of the road. When your tires ran over the line, it howled at you in a crazy high pitched scream before you hit the rumble strip. Scary s***. I snapped awake and immediately thought I did something to the car when I dozed off. Eventually I figured out that the weird painted line was the culprit.

[Noxy]

Only once have I actually fallen asleep but it was an open interstate at about 3 A.M. I always feel tired while driving, though I'm always able to keep from actually nodding off. I think the reason why is because my mom used to take me and my siblings for a drive if we couldn't get to sleep...

[ADDirishboy]

I've done that quite a few times. Driving from Phoenix to Seattle straight through is tough to do. Fell asleep for probably 30 miles. Don't know how I didn't wrap that Penske around a tree.

[themadscientist]

Several times.
My most recent cat nap resulted in a light curb check of a sweet set of of GT-R rims, but I woke up.

I nodded off on the highway one night and when what felt like a blink finished I was passing under an overpass that was about a mile away when the blink started.

My scariest one was one of those dark country roads and I was dipping in and out and if it hadn't been for the air horns on the Peterbilt I was about to head-on I would be mad-pudding. That you Mr. truck driver, I owe you one man.

[heliochrome85]

my dad just got a new benz, which has a feature to prevent you from falling asleep or sleep driving. its pretty annoying at first but you learn to apprecaite its value.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fjl0m5Qy ... re=related[/youtube]

[Amays U G37S]

I've dozed off once, but quickly remembered I was driving and tried to shake it best I could for the ride. I remember driving early to Savannah from the middle of no-where small town off the interstate, and the lady next to me in the Jeep dozing off and actually putting her head into a downward position and closing her eyes, but she jerked away and looked afraid.

Scared me more then her, I couldn't believe it.

Seen this on CNN yesterday morning, 2 out of every 5 people have fallen asleep! Amazing. Seems there needs to be less comforting rides? heheheh

[themadscientist]

That's why we have to help keep other drivers awake.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWe3jh2FEA4[/youtube]

[MinisterofDOOM]

I'd wager the reason that most people fall asleep behind the wheel is that, once seated, they never do anything but stare straight ahead and hold their foot on the gas. That kind of behavior leads to all sorts of other bad things on the road as well, but it also doesn't keep your mind occupied, which leaves you free to drowse off.

Since I'm a much more ''involved'' driver than most people, I tend to actually wake up when I get behind the wheel of a car. During the early years of my grave shift work, there were some tired drives home. But the drive usually woke me up to the point where I had to wind down again before I could even get to sleep once I did get home.

[Alfador]

Haven't had an experience yet. Caffiene, loud music, and an absolutely paranoid sense of situational awareness when I'm driving do a pretty good job fending off that kind of issue.

[Amays U G37S]

an absolutely paranoid sense of situational awareness when I'm driving do a pretty good job fending off that kind of issue.

This is me.

My speedy little ride and the padel shifters usually do the trick beyond this feeling.

@mad

I LOVED that commerical. Hilarious!!!!!

[dre1507]

i don't fall asleep at the wheel, but i do notice that when the drive starts to get boring, i.e i'm stuck behind a slow driver, i start spacing out. However, it does not affect my reaction time, unless it's a stoplight. When i'm spaced out, i tend to ignore traffic signals until the last it's almost too late. that's why i prefer to drive fast and make it exciting.

[es.biggs]

Honestly, my clutch pedal and shifter tend to keep me awake. The z is the first straight drive I've ever had, and I've never drifted off in it.

[Encryptshun]

I grew up 17 miles from the Iowa state line. There was a 18+ bar across the border where you could drink (illegally) without issue. When I was 19, I left the bar at close, got in my car, and woke up in my driveway 2 hours later. I have no idea how I got there, other than apparently I drove myself. That I blacked out is a certaintly -- how many times I passed in and out of consiousness during the 2 hours it took to drive those 17 miles is what gives me the drizzling sh*ts.

I was the single most frightening experience I have ever had or will ever have.

I have never since driven anywhere after having more than 2 drinks (per 2 hour span).

[hitbychance]

When i get the feeling i can't shake it so i blast music and roll down the window until i reach the nearest gas station for an energy drink.

[tigersharkdude]

This actually how I wrecked my old 96 max

My doctor changed my medicine, didnt tell me the side effects. Needless to say, i hit a tree doing 55-60

[bcar240]

I've had a few close calls with the fading in and out. What makes it worse is when I have to sit down and drive after a long day, especially when it is into the setting sun. The sun in my face, even with sunglasses, just makes me want to naturally close my eyes and it makes it that much easier to fall asleep.

Most alertness stimulants do nothing for me either. I do think the act of doing something, like drinking/eating can go a long way towards keeping me awake just because it gives my mind something to do, but that is a short term fix because I'm still overall tired. However, I have found that the five hour energy stuff does tend to help me. I can feel a sort of mild artificial energized feeling and I don't tend to feel tired to the point of fading out when I normally would.

[BusyBadger]

I've dozed off once, but quickly remembered I was driving and tried to shake it best I could for the ride. I remember driving early to Savannah from the middle of no-where small town off the interstate, and the lady next to me in the Jeep dozing off and actually putting her head into a downward position and closing her eyes, but she jerked away and looked afraid.

Scared me more then her, I couldn't believe it.

Seen this on CNN yesterday morning, 2 out of every 5 people have fallen asleep! Amazing. Seems there needs to be less comforting rides? heheheh

Danger danger!

What you (and others in the thread) are refering to and experiencing is called "microsleep" and it's incredibly dangerous. Sleep debt is a huge problem in the country and is the overriding factor in what MoD said about people just staring straight ahead. We treat driving as "our time" or a chance to relax or unwind despite the fact that for most people driving is the most complex action they do all day*. Most of us approach it in a rather cavalier way. But think about how many decisions you process in a normal drive - speeds, distance, approach angles and tracking potential threats (vehicular and otherwise) and then being able to dismiss them when the time is right.

The scariest thing about microsleep - once you do it you are more likely to do it again. It's your body attempting to fix your sleep debt one bit at a time, anyone that's been in the military probably has the art mastered. Pulling over and taking a nap can help but one thing you should never do is to sleep in the driver's seat. That absolute last thing that you want is for your body to associate being in the driver's seat with being time to sleep.

*From the book: Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)

"Researchers have estimated there are anywhere from 1500 to 2500 discrete skills and activities we undertake while driving. Even the simplest thing — shifting gears — is a decision-making process consuming what is called "cognitive workload." We’re operating heavy machinery at speeds beyond our long evolutionary history, absorbing (and discarding) huge amounts of information, and having to make snap decisions — often based on limited situational awareness, guesses about what others are going to do, or a hazy knowledge of the actual traffic law. It took years of research, for example, by some of the country’s top robotics researchers, to create expensive, sophisticated self-driving "autonomous vehicles" that are basically mediocre beginning drivers that you’d never want to let loose in everyday traffic. When we forget that driving isn’t necessarily as easy as it seems to be, we get into trouble."

[Alfador]

Honestly part of the problem is there's very little stigma attached to falling asleep at the wheel. The worst that comes of it if you get stopped it is probably because of what you did when you started to doze and not specifically that you did start to doze. You also probably only get a ticket for whatever they stopped you for in the first place (lane violation probably?). If you get in an accident from it, it's your fault, but I don't even think they treat it as negligence most of the time.

I don't hold it on the same level of abhorrence of drunk driving, but IMO there should be a steeper punishment specifically for it, and when they speak about it, they should probably treat it less like just another thing to avoid, and more like an actual "bad" thing to do. Of course you'll still have the same problem you have with drunk driving where people think they know better than their own body and that they're good to go when they're not.