Falling Asleep While Driving

[maverick]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/aaa-study-d ... k-driving/

The above article and then a discussion about it on our local radio station got me thinking about how this relates to us.

So, who here has fallen asleep while driving to or from the Sierra? Which affects you more, working all day the day before, maybe getting 4-5 hours of sleep, waking up at 1 or 2 am, and then driving to permit station or trailhead? Or the waking up at 5 or 6 am, hiking several hours, and then driving back home? What is your ritual to try and stay awake? Splash water on your face, drink coffee ?Have you had any close calls?

Have gotten sleepy several times, have dozed off for a quick moment once, which scared the hell out of me, but I usually pull over, even if I am 30 min's away from home, and just go to sleep. If you are sleepy enough you will doze off sooner or later, no matter how much you fight it.

[rlown]

after a drive straight from Eastern Wyoming towards home, I did see the lights lift on the Reno skyline. Immediately pulled over and let mom take the wheel. I was young but it was trippy. My grandfather was a truckdriver back in the 60's. He swore by a nice chocolate milkshake when sleepy.

Other things that can make you fall asleep on the road. Epilepsy and Arrhythmia. Had a friend who was driving south on I-5 and passed out. Luckily, wifey grabbed the wheel. Ablation seemed to clear that up.

[Hobbes]

I'm a driver - I love to drive and think nothing (actually, look forward) of taking long car trips.

That being said, I've only dozed off once ever: it happened past Olancha as I was coming back from Yosemite (Yos is an extra 2 hours for me). It scared the every lasting crap out of me, which is why I typically try and spend the night and leave early the next morning. If that doesn't fit with my schedule, I tank up on pure, unadulterated high-fructose laced soda and try and power home.

There was a story a few years back about a traffic fatality in West LA. A young family was returning from a holiday event, and the dad fell asleep at the wheel. The resulting accident killed him, his wife and their two small children. It's something that seems to pop into my mind now & then, especially if I feel myself getting even the slightest bit tired.

[Jimr]

I'm a driver as well. I've never fallen asleep behind the wheel, but struggled very hard one time. I took off on a Friday evening to Avila Beach to catch a boat to fish for Albacore. Got there at 6am, just before the boat left dock. Fished all day into the early evening. On the way home, I was struggling. Let me tell ya, slapping yourself works for about 30 seconds. I got pulled over for speeding, so that woke me up for a short time, then I stopped at McDonalds for coffee. Finally, I pulled over and crashed in my truck for a few hours before continuing on. Probably up about 40 hours straight.

[oldranger]

Close but not quite. Now when I feel tired I pull over and about 20 minutes of rest if not sleep gets me going again. Drove over 9,000 miles in October and november and as soon as I felt the least bit off turned the driving over to Kathy. So really I probably drove about 6000 miles.

[ericZ]

I fell asleep once. Not a high Sierra drive, just coming back from the Bay Area. I was fighting it. Even slept for an hour. But I was overcome just north of Madera. This was late 80s/early 90s. Woke to find my VW bouncing in the field parallel to 99. Came to a stop amid a cloud of dust. Nobody stopped. Scary stuff. Cranked Van Halen singing at the top of my lungs for the next 40 miles.

Eric
-fresno, ca.


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[tarbuckle]

Sun Flower seeds. Also, a quick 10 to 20 minute cat nap does wonders

[cmon4day]

+1 on sunflower seeds. If you are crunching something, i.e. Sunflower seeds, corn nuts, ice, it keeps you from falling asleep. Was driving to Elko, NV last year well into the night and I bought some corn nuts and would crunch one or two every so often and had no problem being drowsy. It works

[paul]

The hardest thing for me is in the dark on the freeway late after a long day - so I mostly avoid that. On a mountain road I have no problem feeling alert - there is so much more to deal with.
My typical pattern for a trip to the mountains is to leave the bay are about 6:30 or 7 so that I am past most of the traffic, drive til I am at some altitude (if going over to the east side) or to the trailhead if it's on the west side, and sleep in the van. Usually that means driving til about 11 PM and that works out fine. I'm tired enough to get to sleep pretty easily but have no issues staying awake to drive. But if I felt sleepy I'd pick the first wide spot and get some sleep. If I truly must stay awake longer or later then I resort to coffee. Since I don't drink coffee at all normally, it jacks me up pretty good and I am wide awake. But I rarely do that - last time was on a trip to LA to pick my son up from college a couple years back where I had worked all day, then left at 7 and had to do I-5 in the dark.
I had one experience where I may have dozed while driving - long ago in my careless youth. I can recall not being able to remember a stretch of road afterward. I stayed on the road and had no problems, but it was still scary after the fact to not be able to recall driving that stretch. I don't take chances anymore.

[balzaccom]

There's a good chance that the people who have fallen asleep while driving are no longer in a position to post on these boards.

Luckily, my wife and I seem to have slightly different sleep inducing trances, allowing one of us to drive for a while, and then the other to take over. I love driving early morning, while she sleeps. She takes over after lunch, while I nap, etc.