Driver hypnosis

The posts on this forum have me hypnotized lately. It’s definitely real.

 

yup, " white line fever", zoning out, been there, done that.

all of a sudden you realize you just drove 200 miles and don't remember any of it.

yup, it happens

 

If you actively switch your focus from one driving tadk to another in a professional pattern you will reduce this possibility. If you drive with the tiny bit of attention left over after you think about all personal/family/job/etc then you are inviting road hypnosis to ruin your career or life. Daydreaming or devoting your focus to non-driving sudjects while behind the wheel isn't professional. There is no real comfort in ruining your life in a way that others ruined theirs.

 

You have to know how to recognize the signs, then deal with them. Open your window, turn your music up LOUD (I found that Rap/hiphop aggravates me at high volume, and keeps me awake). Pull off onto a ramp, put on your flashers, get out, and walk around. Do some pushups. Do an extra 'safety check'. Thump your tires while you are at it. Jog in place and get your heart rate up. Or else, find a place to park, and take 2 hours to rest up.

Just because you laid the truck down in a ditch without killing somebody doesn't get you a free pass. You were still driving while impaired. Once you do something like that, you are a liability, and just about ANY company will fire you. That's just the way this business is. ALWAYS make sure you are in control behind the wheel. ALWAYS.

 

Yes sir, been there. Had been driving way too long couldn't find a parking spot that night for the life of me, and on I64 at the top of that hill it was so foggy you could cut it with a knife. I swear to God, if it wasn't for those lights they had imbedded on the zipper line, I might not have made it down that hill. Found the rest area at the bottom and there was one spot open, so I pulled in and set the brakes, and at that exact moment the truck to the right of me started pulling out, and I was so tired, I just had the sensation that the truck was rolling backwards! I stepped on the brakes with both legs! Took a couple seconds before I realized what was happening. This is the first time I've shared this with anybody. But that white line fever sure will creep up and get ya!

 

What op is talking about, thats grounds for quitting driving.

I can tune out the boredom listening to a book and make the miles fly, basically autopiloting the driving, but the second theres the slightest thing wrong noisewise with the truck or people passing in the mirrors etc that gets all the focus.

If im tired i stop and take a nap or something, its ingrained and automatic to be a defensive driver, things out of the corner of my eye *that relate to the road* are already being reacted to before my concious brain catches up, but thats because i put in the effort in the first years of driving to force those habits to be instinctual. Dont do that and youll always be a hazard

 

I remember an older guy, owner operator for over 20 years who experienced this in the worst way.

"the rumble strip would have gotten my attention but the state DOT dump truck was parked on it."

Thankfully the truck's driver and helper were not in the dump truck.

This guy totaled his newly replaced ride and with the interest rates at that time was under water so he wrecked his ride at a time where it cost his livelyhood.

 

my experiences were never leaving the road, just driving on "auto pilot" kind of.

 

This is a fact. It happened to me back in the early 80’s. Only it wasn’t 200 miles, maybe about 15 miles but enough to send chills through out my body when I realized where I was when I snapped out of it. Still brings those chills when I think about it. Someone was watching over me during that moment.