How To Avoid ‘Sleep’ While Driving at Night?

[Akash]

Thank you all.

When I got my USA license, I drove straight 1000 miles in USA after my office on Friday evening. I was so excited and drove from 6 PM till 1 AM. After that I started to get tired and not able to drive even 10 miles to nearest rest room (It is a place where trucks and cars park and take rest in highways. They even have police officer for guarding us and AC halls and rest rooms). I slept there for two hours and was able to drive with full energy

Second incident happened last month. I usually have loads of work on month end, and I happened to travel to Chennai too from Bangalore. I was awake for an entire day in Chennai for a personal work and happened to drive back at the same day. For last 24 hrs, I didn't sleep and Chennai heat also took toll on my body. While returning back, I couldn't maintain speed as I'm tired. So I pulled over and slept for 3 hrs! Then I drove safely back to Bangalore

+1 buddy. I havent ever tried sleeping in the car though I always wanted to!

Why am I saying this because, it is always better to sleep for an hour or two, if you feel tired. Your body will be energised for another longer drive. No matter whatever you do, splashing water or cool breeze can't refresh your energy level as much as a good sleep.

Agreed. The measure are only if you have no other option but to drive. However, there are instances when you tend to feel drowsy even after having a good night sleep. This may be a result of boredom or any other reason, in that case the trick of splashing water and tissue wipes helps.

 

[jihu123]

• Better you keep speeds in three figures, because higher the speed more will be your concentration on road and less are the chances you will fell asleep.

And in case you fall asleep, and crash somewhere at higher speeds. Then, you will be awake the whole night!

 

[manojodungat]

Excellent thread Akash.
I don't recommend night driving. Nighttime is a dangerous period to be lurking on roads.Only if its unavoidable I would ever think of driving at night.If its a long overnight drive, there is nothing wrong in having a second driver in the car.

• Eat a light meal less in Carbohydrates.
• Stock some strong black tea/coffee without sugar and have it in small doses, say in every one hour at night until you reach your destination.[not a good habit though]
• Try chewing something continuously [sugarless again].

[*]Better you keep speeds in three figures, because higher the speed more will be your concentration on road and less are the chances you will fell asleep.
[/LIST]

TSIVipul agreed with you mate, except for this point of yours.Are you serious here?
I thought, it's very difficult to judge distance and speed at night. At night, I would limit my speed and keep a greater distance from other cars to be in a better position, in case if anything goes wrong.

Usually when I feel tired or sleepy, I pull over and sleep inside the car.

+1

If you had a tiring and exhausting day, it is better you avoid driving that night. Fatigue and exhaustion adversely affects your concentration and reaction time. Even if you have to, do it until say midnight . After that there is every chance that you are likely to be succumbed to that momentary loss of control.It is almost involuntary. When you suddenly realise that you are no longer driving the car consciously, you seriously need a break and rest.When you get to that stage at night, there is no point in driving further. Find a safe place that allows you to doze off for an hour or two.

"better to be late than never"

Please do drive safe.

 

[rahul4640]

For me a cup of strong coffee really works well. When I know that I shall be driving for the whole night, I try to eat less and remember to drink a cup of strong coffee. And splashing your face with water definitely helps.

 

[kinshuk.arya]

My solution

1. tea
2. light food
3. break every 150-200kms and stretching
4. talks
5. no AC means open windows
6. shifting in the seat
7. water
8. chips and peanuts
9. power naps 15-20 minutes

 

[jayadev]

Speed is the best antidote for sleep.
Shift up raise hard and you see the magic happen.

Try it occasionally infrequently when you have no way but to keep driving.

 

[VivekRj.Dieselhead]

Speed is the best antidote for sleep.
Shift up raise hard and you see the magic happen.

Try it occasionally infrequently when you have no way but to keep driving.

+100, i have also experienced this.

 

[TSIVipul]

And in case you fall asleep, and crash somewhere at higher speeds. Then, you will be awake the whole night!

TSIVipul agreed with you mate, except for this point of yours.Are you serious here?
I thought, it's very difficult to judge distance and speed at night. At night, I would limit my speed and keep a greater distance from other cars to be in a better position, in case if anything goes wrong.

You have the right to disagree with me, as we say "To each his own", similarly it is my experience that when doing higher speeds I feel less drowsy and hence wrote my point. Personally I have felt that while doing 80 kph I am about to fell at any moment but while doing 140+ speeds, I am alert for nearly whole time. And of course, the distance is covered quickly giving me more time to sleep at the end

 

[eXperience]

It was a great read akash. Well written.

 

[Gurrala74]

@Akash,

Good and a needy article buddy !!

I drove a lot during nights to Goa,Mumbai,Vizag,Bangalore and from Delhi to Ambala,chandigarh,till Jammu few years back.

If I have to drive all thru' night then

-eat very less, hungryness will never allow you to sleep
-drink plenty of water which will make you to stop for nature call in regular intervals due to AC
-if a co passenger is there, then talk some good jokes and laugh or scold a common enemy for both of you it works well
- I always ensure to pull the car a side by 1 am are so and sleep for atleast 2 to 3 hrs and then start the journey as this is always safe, where most of the accidents happen during 3 am to 4am as most of them fall asleep, even you are fresh you cannot expect the opposite vehicle driver is perfect during those hours. So this is must
- Listen to some fast tracks on your music system
- try eating some chilly snaks which makes you and mouth working always then your eyes too
- stop for a while for every 100/150kms

 

[swiftkolkata]

Few days back i did a night driving to puri from kolkata,distance is near about 520KM,started at 11.45 at night and reached puri 8-8.30 in the morning with only one stop for 10min.that too for my baby.I did not feel sleepy whole night but in the morning say for 5.30 or 6 am i was tired. stopped for my baby and i washed my face with cold water which really helped me lot to cover the rest of the distance.

 

[zengetz]

Another VERY IMPORTANT phenomenon to keep in mind is 'Motion Induced Blindness'. How many time do you recollect you are driving with your vision fixed ahead and out of nowhere you happen to see a car or automotive pass by you as if you never saw it. The below image demonstrates how easily you get affected by it. Its very important to not keep your vision locked straight and keep alternating your eye movement very frequently to avoid any sudden surprises.

A quick demo below



In this demonstration the observer focuses at the flickering green dot in the middle. After about 10 seconds, the observer sees one, two or all three of the static yellow dots arranged at the corners of an imaginary equilateral triangle disappear and then reappear. These disappearances and reappearances continue at random for as long as the observer cares to look.

Full read up available at Motion-induced blindness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope this helps

 

[Gurrala74]

Friends,

I felt this discussion is important for every body and would like to tell you that we have lost 3 family members during 2010 in an accident around at 4 am in the morning where a Swift Dzire colladed with a lorry while coming back from a Shirdi trip to Hyderabad.

It was clear that there was a mistake of lorry guy may be due to sleepiness or drunken and also bit of a mistake of relative who was driving the car might have closed his eyes for a while.

Out of 4 in the car, only one survival who was a front co-passenger was thrown away from the car when the lorry hit

So take the discussion bit seriously and follow the advises friends as it is the matter of our life and our beloved

@Zengetz

Nice one buddy, yes when I am focusing on green dot, it looks to me that yellow dots are disappearing and re appearing, but if I do not focus on green dot and focus on whole pic, never those yellow dots are disappearing. Good one and thanks for sharing

 

[carfreak]

RK, that was an unfortunate incident!

During night drives, have seen few people washing face with carbonated water (soda) instead of just water. They claim its effective and feels fresh. Yet to test this [thinking]

 

[Gurrala74]

@CF

That was very unfortunate and that really stopped my all long drives with my car as my parents and wife are really scared with such incidents they keep reading in news every day and warn me of taking the car for long trips. This is the main reason I could not able to take my Ritz to a long trip so far as it is close to 2 years of its purchase now and my trip of Bangalore is also received too much resistance from my family these days[thinking]