Posted: 10/15/2004 7:16:18 AM EDT
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why is it that just getting behind the wheel can make you sleepy? It's f**king annoying not to mention dangerous. How do you keep yourself awake when your eyes start drooping? |
fixed it..... 
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Roll down the window - blast the stereo - stop for coffee - glance at the dash gauges every few minutes - keep your eyes looking at different things - anything to keep your mind occupied. I do my best to avoid becoming tired while driving. I once woke up in a ditch driving from NC to MI - scared the hell out of me. |
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get out and move around- sitting still makes you tired.... i have my laptop in my truck- used for GPS but it's enough of a visual distraction to make it easier- that and i play music from it so i'll flip through some songs.... best method: stop- down two cups of coffee/red bull whatever..... then go to bed for about 15-20 min... get some sleep... 45 is even better if you can pull it.... when you wake up the caffene will have kicked in, then get out and move around a bit- walk around the car.... just stay outside for a bit- fresh air and moving gets the blood going... then get back in and drive... oh and if you gotta pee- don't...that keeps you awake too -Roth (who drives way to far way too late..... regular 6+ hour drives starting at 2200 with no change in regular sleep schedule) |
... fixed it.  Seriously, if it's a long drive, I stock up on caffinated drinks and stop regularly to get out and stretch, jump aorund, do some pushups, etc. If it's cold outside, I also find that opening the windows and keeping it cold in the car helps me a lot. A colleague of mine feel asleep while driving and broke his back when his SUV flipped, and in the army I saw one of our recon groups plow into a big oak at 35 mph because the driver fell asleep. |
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I get a little drowsy on long road trips... Last time I drove out to Phoenix from Austin... actually the last two times... I left Austin around 10pm... arrived in Phoenix around noon the next day. Drove straight through the night. Got a little drowsy around 4-6am, but I'd just stop somewhere on I10 and pee and run around the car a few times, then pop a NoDoz and I'm fine. Good thing is, I'll get drowsy, but I won't fall asleep. |
No kidding! I was at work until around 10pm Wednesday, then had to be back before 0600 the next morning. I made it, but with the commuting and stuff only got 2 hours of sleep. I left to go to another terminal at about 1100am. I made it about 25 miles, and had to pull over, I was falling asleep big time. Wound up out for three hours! |
I was behind a guy in a Corvette that was working on his laptop on the passenger seat while doing 60 in the fast lane on the 405. Got right behind him and blasted him with my horns, he freaked and drove into the ditch. I was smiling all the way to my destination. CW |
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I used to travel a lot as a field service engineer. Put 90,000 mi. on a new car in about 20 months, and that includes the time the car was parked in an airport parking lot. Traveled up and down the Eastern seaboard including Canada. I have probably slept more miles behind the wheel than a lot of people have driven. What I have found is that you can't be sleepy and eat at the same time. You can cover a lot of miles if you bring something you can/have to chew a lot and doesn't fill you up real quick. Veggies are good, like carrots, jerky, rice cakes, corn chips (Fritos are good). Eat slowly, small bites, chew about three times as much as you would normally. It works for me. YMMV. |
For you folks who don't live in So. Calif., the 405(aka San Diego Freeway) goes north and south along the western part of L.A., and it is probably one of the most heavily used freeways in So. Calif. if not the USA. It connects the San Fernando Valley(where a lot of Angelenos live) to the South Bay area where they work(this area is home to many of the large aerospace crops, Nissan, & Toyota), and LAX(L.A. Internation Airport) is in the middle. |
| Driving while "sleepy" should be punishable by death. I have no remorse for someone that crashes and hurts someone because they was "sleepy" You get behind the wheel or continue to drive when you are tired and you crash its the same as murder. You should be put to death. |
It often is punished by death. I was coming back from a match in Idaho a couple of years ago, and I woke up to someone's horn. He was in the oncoming lane of the two-lane highway, and I was halfway in his lane and halfway in mine. Half a second later and we both would have been dead. |