How To Avoid Highway Hypnosis Whilst Driving
When people think of driving, it’s usually seen as something which has been around for a while. However, one needs to make a distinction between automobiles and the modern infrastructure which supports use of them. Cars have been around for a long time. The modern roadways, on the other hand, are still fairly new. It might be surprising but there was an extended period of time where people simply didn’t go on longer car trips. Lack of proper roadways, or methods to refuel a vehicle would often impose artificial limitations on how far one could drive. That’s why it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that social factors are still developing around driving. Society as a whole still hasn’t had time to properly pick up and distribute some facts about the driving experience.
One item currently making a slow introduction to the public consciousness is known as highway hypnosis. Most people are aware of the dangers of drunk driving. And while fewer people really understand the dangers involved with driving while tired, it’s still fairly common knowledge. Highway hypnosis, on the other hand, is only just now becoming a topic of conversation. One can best think of it by focusing on the idea of hypnosis. A common trope of fiction will have a hypnotist mesmerizing people by forcing their attention on a single location. Often a spinning disk which remains stationary while also creating the illusion of rapid movement.
This is the perfect metaphor for highway hypnosis. The condition occurs when a driver focuses ahead of himself within the context of a mostly unchanging landscape. The few things in his path will typically be fairly static and unchanging. The driver simply sees the continual blur of a lane painted on the road. And as more and more time passes, the less of anything but that line he’ll see. No matter what the focus, the main point is that a driver will become fixated on an aspect of the landscape rather than the environment as a whole. And this process will not only limit his perception, but actually push him into an almost sleeplike state. It’s an incredibly dangerous situation, and also one which occurs more than people realize. It’s not at all uncommon for people to feel like an hour long drive only took a few minutes. This is because they actually were only fully conscious for a few minutes of that drive. For better or worse, they’ll have simply been driving on a mental autopilot.
Thankfully, it’s not hard to avoid highway hypnosis. Again, one of the biggest triggering factors is fixation on a single point. To avoid highway hypnosis, one simply needs to avoid focusing too much on a single area. One should always keep his or her eyes active. A driver should look at signs he’s about to pass, the distance between his car and the one ahead of him, and both to the side and within the mirror in order to keep on the alert for passing vehicles. This constant eye motion serves two important points. First and foremost, it ensures that one has a full grasp of the environment around himself. But it also ensures that his body and mind are kept on the alert, and away from even the hint of highway hypnosis. It’s a habit that’s not only important for the highway itself. Any long drive can lend itself to that state. As such, one should ensure that he’s always keeping his eyes moving and alert of the conditions around himself. It will prevent highway hypnosis everywhere, from actual highway to long country roads.
