![]() ![]() Understanding how this happens can help you avoid it, but what if you get hit by another driver whose mind is no longer on the road? If you get injured, you may need to seek financial compensation. A red light, a merging vehicle, or a pedestrian crossing the street may create a hazard that a semi-conscious. Highway hypnosis can make it impossible for a driver to react within a reasonable amount of time to changing roadway conditions. What happens if you’re the victim of a zoned-out driver? Highway hypnosis is a dangerous phenomenon just as dangerous as drunk driving in many situations. All of this can hypnotize you so that you’re barely paying attention. Highway hypnosis, also known as white line fever, happens when you are driving along a similar scene for a long period of time that your brain checks out. You have to listen to that endless hum of the wheels on the pavement. You have to watch signs and dotted lines go by in a very consistent pattern. Your mind drifts off because you don’t feel any urgency.īeyond that, the road itself can sort of lull you into the trance. Additionally, on a long drive, you may feel bored and in need of a distraction. For one thing, being tired makes it easier to “zone out” behind the wheel. In this state the drivers conscious mind is apparently fully focused elsewhere, with seemingly direct processing of the masses of information needed to drive safely. Your body keeps going on autopilot, even if you’re not nearly as engaged with the drive as you normally would be. Highway hypnosis is a mental state in which the person can drive an automobile great distances, responding to external events in the expected manner, with no recollection of having consciously done so. You can fall into a type of trance, almost as if you have fallen asleep. This is a condition that all drivers are susceptible to, but it is worst when you are already a bit tired. If this has happened to you, as it has to most people, it’s an example of highway hypnosis. He explains doing too much or even too little is when problems can happen.Have you ever been driving a long way to a set destination when you suddenly arrived, unable to remember exactly how you got there? It’s not as if you have no memory of the drive, but you don’t remember certain landmarks or exactly what actions you took. “The good news is, despite the fact that you don't remember the last few minutes of your drive, as long as your eyes are on the roadway and you are not drowsy, your crash risk doesn't increase,” Dingus said.ĭingus said their research shows drivers are doing something other than driving 50 percent of the time. ![]() While not remembering a chunk of your driving can be scary, Dingus said, not to worry. Sometimes we're doing and thinking about too much. "With so much else going on in our lives - work, school, family, you name it - it's not hard to drift into your own thoughts."ĭings said that's referred to as mental workload. "If you have driven for a while and you are an adult, not a teen, driving is a pretty automated task," said Tom Dingus, VTTI director. Dingus said his team has actually studied what’s happening during those moments you don’t remember. VTTI is the largest transportation research institute in the United States, the second largest in the world. We personally believe people can't really do that." Researchers would say that you should keep your mind on the road. Dingus said his team has actually studied what’s happening during those moments you don’t remember. "Everybody has experienced that phenomenon. "It's described in many ways, mind wandering or lost in thought,” said Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Director Tom Dingus. ![]() It can be a little scary not to remember seeing the road for a period of time, but experts say it’s actually quite common. It's a phenomenon called highway hypnosis. We get behind the wheel, and although we may be alert and paying attention to the road, there's suddenly that moment of “How did I get here?” You just dive into your own thoughts and go into this type of hypnosis. Most drivers who experience highway hypnosis are on the road for long periods. Commonly confused with drowsy driving, highway hypnosis is a form of distracted driving that occurs when a lack of stimulants is present. You're driving, making all the right decisions behind the wheel, when suddenly there's a moment where you don't quite remember the chunk of driving you just did. Highway hypnosis can cause drivers to enter a trance-like state and zone out for both short distances and the entirety of a drive. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |