[fine69]

I have driven from Delhi to Jaisalmer and from Jaisalmer to Delhi at a stretch but while going I stopped over twice to take a 30 mins nap and while coming back I stopped over once to take a 30 mins nap.

I learnt my lesson when I had almost no memory the next day of driving the last 100 kms on a 22 hr driving trip from mountains to Delhi the day before. Why? Because I didn't listen to my body and even indulged in over-speeding to remain awake, Never again I said!

I would strongly recommend people to not try and make any records on public roads by driving for long distances or driving non-stop (not that OP was trying to do so). One not only risks themselves and their family but also others' lives on the road.

Though people recommend having a coffee/red bull but in my experience of having driven a couple of lac kilometers on indian highways. No amount of caffeine is going to keep you awake when you start falling asleep, (it might just delay it a few mins) park your car and take a nap! Even a 15 minute nap can do wonders, been there done that!

One recommendation on parking your car in such cases, avoid parking just adjacent to the side of the road, who knows when another sleepy driver gets off the road.

Stop over to a dhaba/food-joint, purchase a toffee if you think he'd object to you parking there and doze off!!

I usually tell my wife that once I start snoring, she should wake me up 15 mins after that

[Mohan Mathew A]

Hey Jignesh

i just chanced upon this thread. didn't know you had met with the accident. Now i know why you were asking about the high speed stability of Zen and Wagon R. Thank god that all of you escaped without much injury. what caused it might have been any of the reasons so far stated or something else. but i know for a fact that nodding off while driving causes so many accidents. It has happened with me twice, first time was a long while back around 18 years back. this was with entire family and was early in the morning. thankfully nothing happened as there was a run off area and and i brought the car to a stop and everyone was fine although a bit shaken. the second time was around 4 years back enroute to goa and this was in the afternoon and i knew it was a possibility so had asked my co passenger to keep me engaged in talk but he got a call and forgot about it and i nodded off for a couple of seconds. thankfully there were no oncoming cars and i woke up and brought the car back on the road and stopped it. car brushed against some bushes but no damage was done.

Even if you had a good night's sleep in a monotonous drive you can still nod of

1) Taking a nap is good if it helps. Personally i can't sleep if i try to sleep so doesn't help me much
2) rolling down the windows helps
3) listening to loud music helps
4) driving fast and in a competitive manner helps (i know it is a controversial suggestion). i am not saying rash but just fast
5) Having a engaging conversation is probably the best option
6) Drinking redbull helps.
7) Driving on a light stomach always helps. a full stomach is never going to do any good Especially in the afternoons and late mornings
Find out what works for you and do it. The trick is to keep the conscious mind engaged. There is definitely no "one size fits all" solution.

World over this is one of the major contributing factor to accidents I feel there should be a feature in cars which consistently track your eyes and alert you if it senses drowsiness (like the samsung smart stay feature). it should alert you and at the same time slow the car and bring it to a halt. i know some high end cars have features like chimes and seat vibrations etc if it sense the driver is drowsy but i don't think none tracks the eye and respond accordingly. to me this is eminently doable and should not be too expensive too. Enough of my ramblings

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

...
I feel there should be a feature in cars which consistently track your eyes and alert you if it senses drowsiness (like the samsung smart stay feature). it should alert you and at the same time slow the car and bring it to a halt. i know some high end cars have features like chimes and seat vibrations etc if it sense the driver is drowsy but i don't think none tracks the eye and respond accordingly. to me this is eminently doable and should not be too expensive too. Enough of my ramblings

The following gives a good roundup of the current technologies in this area:

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com...eep-alarm1.htm

• Mercedes-Benz Attention Assist uses the car's engine control unit to monitor changes in steering and other driving habits and alerts the driver accordingly.
• Lexus placed a camera in the dashboard that tracks the driver's face, rather than the vehicle's behavior, and alerts the driver if his or her movements seem to indicate sleep.
• Volvo's Driver Alert Control is a lane-departure system that monitors and corrects the vehicle's position on the road, then alerts the driver if it detects any drifting between lanes.
• Saab uses two cameras in the cockpit to monitor the driver's eye movement and alerts the driver with a text message in the dash, followed by a stern audio message if he or she still seems sleepy.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by fine69

I usually tell my wife that once I start snoring, she should wake me up 15 mins after that

Hello Fine69,

Taking a short power nap is definitely a great idea. I will ensure to follow this practice during my future drives.

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

didn't know you had met with the accident. Now i know why you were asking about the high speed stability of Zen and Wagon R.

Hello Mohan,

Thank you for the tips. Even I did not knew that you that you dozed off twice in past while driving. But having said that, I still say that you have a fantastic control over your car & your responses are pretty quick.

I am sorry that I did not mentioned about this accident during the meet. But I did not wanted to mention about this fateful day during our T-BHP meet as that would have turned the discussions on negative side. As far as high speed stability of Zen & WagonR is concerned, I still feel that these cars are not good after speeds of 100 / 110 kmph.

Regarding the driver alert feature you mentioned, couple of years back I did see a program on Discovery channel where companies were working on / & testing this. I do not know whether this feature is now actually available in high end cars or not.

Thanks,

[bhavtol]

Hi Every One !

I would like to put my recent experience in this place.

I went from Indore-Goa (thats approx 1000kms one way) in Feb of this year. At the start of the wedding we were to drive for a wedding and at the end of the same leave for Goa.

After saying our good byes and driving not more than 30 kms (started at 2.00 am) i started feeling drowsy and in the next ten minutes i went from the state of super excitement (of going Goa for the first time) to super dud . My wife too was in the same state as both of us had been busy the entire day with wedding chores and relatives.

I turned into a well lit dhabha and immediately took a nap. Withing Ten minutes i was woken up by scream of my wife who was dead scared as the chowkidaar had knocked on the window.

" Saab, parking mein laga ke aaram se khaat (bed) pe so jaao...10/- rupaiya lagega ...."

I then got out , having lost all the sleep due to the scream, paid a parking toll of ten rupees to guy with thanks, had tea and then drove straight till Pune without a stop.

I meant to say that even a ten minutes power nap can referesh you so well. In Return i was on the road from 2.30 pm (Day1) to 7.30 pm (Day 2) next day continuously helped by such power naps.

Now my Standard time to start a journey is 10.30 - 11.00 PM . I get home from the office by 7.30 pm completing full day working , have usually hotel food thereupon (as it is heavy), take a nap till 10.00/10.30 pm and thereafter leave after having a shower. Thats me ......night rider ...lol

[Mohan Mathew A]

Hi SDP

Thanks for sharing the link. I knew about the merc and volvo systems, didnt know that lexus and saab had facial/eye tracking model. I still feel this systems are still passive, infact the volvo if i remember correctly shows a coffee cup in the MID to remind you should stop and have a coffee, too passive

Hi Jignesh

falling asleep on the wheel is dangerous. I was twice lucky, dont want to tempt fate too much. I am cautious now. There are so many who probably didnt have the same luck as us. Thank god

[SDP]

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

Hi SDP

Thanks for sharing the link. I knew about the merc and volvo systems, didnt know that lexus and saab had facial/eye tracking model. I still feel this systems are still passive, infact the volvo if i remember correctly shows a coffee cup in the MID to remind you should stop and have a coffee, too passive
...

Jignesh, kindly excuse us for going OT on your thread and dicussinng things not directly related to your incident.

Mohan, I think, technology would catch up sooner or later. My own opinion about the technology is as follows: I wouldn't want to risk my life (completely) relying on a piece of technology. Sleeping at the wheel does not happen suddenly. Before that happens, there is at least 5-10 minutes of drowsiness, yawning and what not. One should be mindful about these signs and react to them in time. During the recent Gujarat trip, a couple of times, I remember biting my fingers to zap me out of the heaviness that I was feeling. Luckily it worked. If not, I would have stopped and taken a nap. The point is, too much of reliance on technology is not good. Knowing your and your car's limits is key in safe driving.

[Mohan Mathew A]

Originally Posted by SDP

Jignesh, kindly excuse us for going OT on your thread and dicussinng things not directly related to your incident.

Mohan, I think, technology would catch up sooner or later. My own opinion about the technology is as follows: I wouldn't want to risk my life (completely) relying on a piece of technology. Sleeping at the wheel does not happen suddenly. Before that happens, there is at least 5-10 minutes of drowsiness, yawning and what not. One should be mindful about these signs and react to them in time. During the recent Gujarat trip, a couple of times, I remember biting my fingers to zap me out of the heaviness that I was feeling. Luckily it worked. If not, I would have stopped and taken a nap. The point is, too much of reliance on technology is not good. Knowing your and your car's limits is key in safe driving.

HI SDP

i fully agree with you on not being over dependent on technology. but surely it comes in really handy for those instances where you miscalculate or make an error of judgement about your level of dorwsiness or situations where you have no options. Also i have a problem, i cannot sleep if i try to force myself to sleep. I could be falling asleep on the wheel but if i stop and try to take a nap i will not be able to (i have tried it numerous number of times) and it is not restricted to while driving. Also there are also situations where one cannot stop for safety reasons, like recently when i traveled in the night to goa, i had my child and wife with me and was feeling drowsy but it was a deserted stretch so didn't want to take a risk. so in these situations where one is forced to drive on i would appreciate some help from technology

mods,jignesh. sorry for going out of topic

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by SDP

Jignesh, kindly excuse us for going OT on your thread and dicussinng things not directly related to your incident.

Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A

mods,jignesh. sorry for going out of topic

Hello SDP / Mohan,

Nothing to be sorry about. I do not feel the disucssion you have initiated is off-topic. All the suggestions here are welcome. If any of these suggestions is useful to someone, if feel the purpose is served.

Apart from those points that you have suggested, one that I liked the best is - after every 1.5 / 2 hours of drive, halt the car, get down & walk 50 / 100 meters. This will stretch the body & break the routine that the mind / body has got into.

But frankly speaking in my discussion with people who have gone through incidents like these in past, they are generally of opinion that there are times when things just happen & you have abolutely no control during that split second. I am not leaving things to destiny & that is why I have put up this thread - to perpare overselves in best manner to encounter unforeseen situations.

Thanks,

[carzone]

I had read this long back, but came upon this from another thread again.

God's grace that all of you came out just with minor scratches. Your daughter had some great good wishes upon her that she didn't even get a scratch.

It is a possibility that you might have lost concentration and hence the incident.
As all the experts suggest taking a power nap, I would like to narrate an incident.

We had bought the car new and I had an experience of just 500Kms behind the wheel when dad said that we were going to Alibaug for a vacation. I was a newbie, so we had dad's friend's car for company all through the highway and all I had to do was follow him. We started at around 7 in the morning. We had Lunch(a heavy one) and decided to visit nearby beach after that. I was feeling too too sleepy after the lunch, and that's when all of the elders advised me to take a nap. While others visited the beach, I parked on the beach and dozed off. Got up in half and hour and was fresh as ever. After that, I drove all day till 10:30 in the night till we reached our destination.

I would recommend a power nap if you are to drive in the afternoon after lunch, especially if you are a newbie like I was. There is nothing like sleep to freshen you up.