#106302 - 09/19/07 05:57 PM
drowsiness while driving your car
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Old Hand
Registered: 07/10/05
Posts: 763
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Has anyone experience drowsiness while driving your car?
I constantly have drowsiness when I drive my car greater than 40mins. The car engine droning noise cause me to fall asleep.
How do you guys cope with this drowsiness problem? Do you drink coffee?
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#106308 - 09/19/07 06:48 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
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I've had this problem most of my adult life.
Usually it is by sheer will that I keep from falling asleep.
Now I use a rubber band, or I think about Baghdad, or in the extreme cases I pull over and take a break.
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
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#106334 - 09/19/07 08:46 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: benjammin]
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Member
Registered: 07/22/07
Posts: 148
Loc: TN
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I use music. If it's cool weather rolling down the window and getting a blast of air in the face also helps. It may sound odd but chewing on strong flavored gum also seems to help a little.
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#106346 - 09/19/07 10:37 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: frostbite]
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Member
Registered: 12/05/06
Posts: 111
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Have you considered that you might have a sleeping problem, like sleep apnea or something?
You might want to see a doctor. I did and it changed my life.
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#106347 - 09/19/07 10:41 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: frostbite]
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Veteran
Registered: 09/01/05
Posts: 1474
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We hired a taxi in Europe years ago for a 7 hour trip (long story). Anyway, we stopped along the way to eat and offered to pay his meal and he refused pretty much saying a slight hunger would help keep him awake. And of course that a big meal makes you sleepy. I never forgot that and its worked for me ever since (with a little coffee of course.) Not to starve yourself but try not eating a big meal before you drive.
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#106356 - 09/19/07 11:57 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: drahthaar]
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Member
Registered: 07/22/07
Posts: 148
Loc: TN
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I am an almost lifelong insomniac and have seen a doc. It has improved lately, and I feel much better than I used to, it's just too soon for me to be overly optimistic.
(For those who might be wondering, I refused to drive in a seriously impaired condition.)
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#106362 - 09/20/07 01:02 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Enthusiast
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 309
Loc: Vermont
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Make sure you have no holes in the car, could be carbon monoxide making you sleepy. Especially if it happens every time you drive. Are you getting headaches?
_________________________
If it ain't bleeding, it doesn't hurt.
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#106382 - 09/20/07 02:38 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Geezer
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
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Do whatever it takes to fix this problem. No matter what the police reports say, driver fatigue is probably the number one cause of solo vehicle traffic collisions (and I should know, I worked about a jillion solo rollovers on I-5). In my younger days I used to drive much longer than I should have; I rolled the window down, sang to the radio (thank goodness no one could hear me), and often stopped to walk around and spash water in my face to stay awake...
_________________________
OBG
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#106447 - 09/20/07 05:26 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: OldBaldGuy]
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Addict
Registered: 04/21/05
Posts: 484
Loc: Anthem, AZ USA
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No matter what the police reports say, driver fatigue is probably the number one cause of solo vehicle traffic collisions. Amen! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively [my emphasis] estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. These figures may be the tip of the iceberg, since currently it is difficult to attribute crashes to sleepiness.(Scary) stats from DrowsyDriving.org: 60% of adult drivers about 168 million people say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third, (37% or 103 million people), have actually fallen asleep at the wheel! Men are more likely than women to drive while drowsy (56% vs. 45%) and are almost twice as likely as women to fall asleep while driving (22% vs. 12%). People who sleep six to seven hours a night are twice as likely to be involved in such a crash as those sleeping 8 hours or more, while people sleeping less than 5 hours increased their risk four to five times. A study...in Australia showed that being awake for 18 hours produced an impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .05, and .10 after 24 hours; .08 is considered legally drunk. This will wake you up: Several drowsy driving incidents have resulted in jail sentences for the driver. Multi-million dollar settlements have been awarded to families of crash victims as a result of lawsuits filed against individuals as well as businesses whose employees were involved in drowsy driving crashes.Their suggested countermeasures. My personal "countermeasure" a wife who talks incessantly, especially if she thinks I'm getting drowsy while driving  Here's a commercial "gadget," the Driver Alert Master, although I'd rather practice prevention and not rely on something that kicks in after I've nodded off. Better than nothing maybe, but a) what if you don't activate it, and b) there's the danger of "over-correcting" after being startled awake.
_________________________
"Things that have never happened before happen all the time." Scott Sagan, The Limits of Safety
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#106451 - 09/20/07 05:42 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: xbanker]
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Old Hand
Registered: 03/24/06
Posts: 900
Loc: NW NJ
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I think the best countermeasure is to know your own personal limitations and warning signs.
Ferinstance, I know that when I'm driving at night and lights start to *hurt* my eyes I'm getting dangerous. It starts with oncoming headlights, then streetlights, traffic lights. When the reflection of my own headlights off of signs starts to hurt...
Also, when that little voice says "Just close your eyes for one little second, you can open them again, just for a second, its ok..."
_________________________
- Tom S.
"Never trust and engineer who doesn't carry a pocketknife."
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#106453 - 09/20/07 06:00 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: thseng]
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Addict
Registered: 05/06/04
Posts: 604
Loc: Manhattan
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Exactly, often I find that I don't even necessarily need sleep when drowsiness sets in. Just getting out of the car, walking around and stretching or pulling over and closing my eyes for half an hour brings me back to wakefulness. This is after driving five or six hours, not being awake eighteen, though.
_________________________
A gentleman should always be able to break his fast in the manner of a gentleman where so ever he may find himself.--Good Omens
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#106512 - 09/21/07 03:15 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: jshannon]
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Journeyman
Registered: 09/14/07
Posts: 56
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Once that fatigue hits in, and that fatigue turns into drowsiness, I believe the ONLY safe thing to do is to pull-over and catch a nap. It might last 5 minutes, or 30, or you might not be able to sleep but you would feel refreshed anyways.
When I was a teenager I remember driving home WAY too late and always feeling very drowsy. Nothing ever happened but it hit home one night when I noticed I didn't remember going through the last intersection (which was red).
It simply isn't worth it.
When the drowsiness hits, a 10 minute nap is faster than a hit of caffeine.
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#106517 - 09/21/07 04:21 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: eric_2003]
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Geezer
Registered: 01/21/04
Posts: 5163
Loc: W. WA
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Do you know what really wakes you up when you're driving and thinking that it's time to pull over?
One is passing an accident on the freeway somewhere around Fresno about midnight, where a guy driving a station wagon fell asleep, went through the oleander shrub divider, and hit a semi head-on. The victim's wagon was buried under the truck halfway up the windshild. The driver of the semi was sitting on the ground beside his truck, his face on his knees and his arms wrapped around his head.
Pull over and rest. It just isn't worth it.
Sue
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#106557 - 09/21/07 06:02 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: NightHiker]
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Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
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I am reminded of two incidents that tested my driving duration limits.
The first was while in dry-dock in Seattle Shipyards. I was heading home after getting about 3 hours sleep in 3 days (you try sleeping while someone's working on your house 24/7). I had to go about 70 miles to get home, through Seattle rush hour traffic. I was in a different world by the time I got home.
The second was on a non-stop from Seattle to Tucson AZ at Christmas. We left Seattle early morning, and I drove as far as I could. I got to Sacramento and hit late night fog. By then I'd been driving about 16 hours and the fog was so bad I could see maybe two car lengths in front of me. I just kept at 65 mph the whole time and tried to watch for red lights. Dad was asleep in the back seat, and little brother was sitting next to me too scared to sleep. I finally got to the top of the grapevine when my ears gave out and I rousted dad so he could drive through north LA at 4:30 am. I sacked for about 3 hours, then woke up and drove the rest of the way. 32 hours from Seattle to Tucson. I don't know what I was trying to prove.
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
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#106558 - 09/21/07 06:04 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: NightHiker]
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Old Hand
Registered: 07/10/05
Posts: 763
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I'd say your options are:
- Caffeine (my personal favorite), ingest to the point of random muscle twitching. Available via coffee, pills, gum, and energy drinks, and instant coffee crystals - just a pinch between your cheek & gums). Some people like to combine caffeine with nicotine for the additional vasoconstrictive/tachycardic effect but I'm a caffeine purist, I'm anxiously waiting for the day the FDA approves injectable caffeine for over-the-counter sale.
Since you may have concerns about the effect of caffeine on your health, you may be limited to:
- Plan your trips to remain in a 40 min radius of your home.
- Stop every 30-40 minutes to catch a cat nap or get out and walk around.
- Instead of drifting off to sleep, induce a state of self-hypnosis and "recondition" yourself to feel refreshed.
- Get somebody else to drive you.
If your engine noise is causing drowsiness try drowning it out with music that you find obnoxious (probably available free of charge somewhere on your FM dial).
In all seriousness, if this really is a constant occurrance, I'd strongly consider Matt26's thoughts about an exhaust leak.
my honda 1993 car has off market manifold that isn't well insulated from noise as well as Honda brand. Besides my car is old compare to new Honda models. It lacks interior insulation. I use ear plugs to reduce the noise but I can still hear the droning of engine noise. I am just wondering if something is wrong with my body. I did have a hearing test and the results indicated that my hearing is more sensitive on certain frequencies.
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#106567 - 09/21/07 06:58 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Rapscallion
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 4020
Loc: Anchorage AK
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I think your body is fine. You are just susceptible to external stimulus is all, same as me. Sometimes it invigorates, sometimes it pacifies.
Something else I've tried with some success is language learning recordings.
_________________________
The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
-- Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
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#106621 - 09/22/07 02:59 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: benjammin]
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Enthusiast
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 309
Loc: Vermont
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I listen to books on tape, I own several but the local library has hundreds! Try it.
_________________________
If it ain't bleeding, it doesn't hurt.
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#106622 - 09/22/07 03:06 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: Matt26]
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Old Hand
Registered: 11/26/06
Posts: 724
Loc: Sterling, Virginia, United Sta...
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I listen to books on tape, I own several but the local library has hundreds! Try it. Heh, that would put me to sleep while driving, and I dont normally have the driving drowsy problem. 
_________________________
Hiking is just walking where its okay to pee. Sometimes old people hike by mistake. Demitri Martin
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#106682 - 09/23/07 12:48 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: jshannon]
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Enthusiast
Registered: 09/27/05
Posts: 309
Loc: Vermont
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As perverse as it may sound I prefer to listen to books I have already read.
_________________________
If it ain't bleeding, it doesn't hurt.
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#106793 - 09/24/07 08:57 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: Matt26]
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Enthusiast
Registered: 01/05/03
Posts: 214
Loc: Scotland
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After coming intimately acquainted with a gravel run-out at the bottom of a hill last week, I wish I'd have read this thread earlier. On the other hand I now recall moments from my childhood I had previously forgotten.
No amount of stimulant can overcome 28 hours of playing soldiers, the only thing that helps is a quick break (15 mins min) and a walk around.
If you are that tired, stop. Its not worth the pain.
_________________________
Follow the Sapper
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#107074 - 09/26/07 05:56 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Old Hand
Registered: 08/10/06
Posts: 882
Loc: Colorado
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I work my police scanner to get situational awareness. Thinking about what's going on up ahead keeps my mind busy. If there's little traffic I'll scan for airplane transmissions or search for frequencies of the towns going by (if I'm in unfamiliar territory)
I'm far too nervous about what the other drivers are going to do next to get drowsy. Maybe you should be more fearful?
In truck driving school they advised a 30 minute nap. Less isn't as effective and more will put you into a groggy state when you try to get going again.
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#107124 - 09/27/07 01:36 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: Susan]
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Geezer
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
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Fresno? Stay away from Fresno, bad things happen around there all the time!!!
_________________________
OBG
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#107147 - 09/27/07 12:04 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: OldBaldGuy]
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Addict
Registered: 04/13/07
Posts: 627
Loc: A Canadian Back in Canada
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Fresno? Stay away from Fresno, bad things happen around there all the time!!! Sounds like someone is speaking from experience. The question is, is it good or bad? Kris
_________________________
"One should not increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of entities required to explain anything"
William of Ockham (1285-1349)
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#109171 - 10/19/07 04:07 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: Kris]
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Stranger
Registered: 10/19/07
Posts: 1
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Hi, I wanted to let you know that the National Sleep Foundation has launched a new site where you can share or create a memorial for a loved one lost to a drowsy driving crash. The site accepts stories and tributes from anyone whose life has been impacted by drowsy driving. It is a very moving and emotional site; you can read first-hand how a drowsy driving crash can happen to anyone at any time. To share your memorial or story, please visit www.sleepfoundation.org/memorial The site also offers lots of grief related services and resources too. Also, if you want to learn more about how to prevent drowsy driving, visit www.DrowsyDriving.org -- there is a wealth of valuable information on the site. Thank you. National Sleep Foundation
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#109228 - 10/19/07 09:51 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: sleepfoundation45]
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Journeyman
Registered: 09/27/07
Posts: 76
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I love books on CD or better yet the CDs of the old 30s-40s radio programs when heading out on long trips across open country. the miles fly by.
_________________________
If people concentrated on the really important things in life... there'd be a shortage of kid's fishing poles.
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#109246 - 10/19/07 11:50 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: sleepfoundation45]
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Old Hand
Registered: 07/10/05
Posts: 763
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Hi, I wanted to let you know that the National Sleep Foundation has launched a new site where you can share or create a memorial for a loved one lost to a drowsy driving crash. The site accepts stories and tributes from anyone whose life has been impacted by drowsy driving. It is a very moving and emotional site; you can read first-hand how a drowsy driving crash can happen to anyone at any time. To share your memorial or story, please visit www.sleepfoundation.org/memorial The site also offers lots of grief related services and resources too. Also, if you want to learn more about how to prevent drowsy driving, visit www.DrowsyDriving.org -- there is a wealth of valuable information on the site. Thank you. National Sleep Foundation thank you for the link. I find it very informative. i am checking out the link right now.
Edited by picard120 (10/19/07 11:54 PM)
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#109353 - 10/21/07 06:33 AM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Veteran
Registered: 03/02/03
Posts: 1428
Loc: NJ, USA
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As a person that drives 540 miles just about every other weekend the best advice I can offer is find a rest stop and pull over for a few minutes.
I've had days where, no matter what, I couldn't shake feeling tired. I'd pull over in a safe area, take a 15-20 minute nap, and I was good to go. Often enough, just pulling over and taking a nice stretch was all I needed.
I've tried caffeinated drinks, cold air, hot air, eating, not eating, blasting the radio, basically everything I can think of. Still, for me, nothing works better than taking a little nap.
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#109392 - 10/21/07 06:45 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: picard120]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 11/09/06
Posts: 2851
Loc: La-USA
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I get about 70 miles per 16oz cup of coffee. I get coffee from places that I have to go into. I walk, I think, I look around, and I get coffee and refreshed!
That's my system and I'm sticking to it !!!!!!
_________________________
QMC, USCG (Ret)
The best luck is what you make yourself!
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#109403 - 10/21/07 08:14 PM
Re: drowsiness while driving your car
[Re: wildman800]
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Geezer
Registered: 09/30/01
Posts: 5695
Loc: Former AFB in CA, recouping fr...
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Probably the best system going. Just getting out of the car for a few minutes can make all the difference in the world...
_________________________
OBG
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