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Casually admitting to zoning out behind the wheel like it's a mere curiosity and not an incredibly dangerous lack of attention (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 weeks ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] 49 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)

This is just Highway hypnosisand it's a perfectly normal and safe phenomenon. Where your mind just runs a background process but is still alert for sudden changes. I can drive quite literally miles without registering a thing but if something out of the ordinary happens, everything kicks into high gear and background process becomes a full blown front and center program that takes all my focus.

I believe in fuck cars too, but pick your battles.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I have also experienced this, I was driving home on an 18 lane major highway in Ontario every night and would get home with no memory of the entire drive.

    On the other hand I also had severe untreated sleep apnea at the time so I would say that highway hypnosis might mask other disorders that are actually very dangerous.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 weeks ago

    I wonder how this works for neurodivergent people. I’m thinking specifically of task switching issues, autistic inertia, and memory issues. Seems like it could be a huge issue, especially if under diagnosed.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 child)

    I worked an hour drive from my house and have driven home almost completely several times with no memory of.the drive.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 weeks ago

    That's how our brain works. We don't remember every detail from our walks either. Repeated actions get less cognitive power. I hate driving, but if it's going smoothly sometimes I get thus, but when the traffic is bad, people are changing lanes a lot and you have to accelerate and break frequently, then you need to be actively present.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

    Yes, that's probably it. However, I have real problems with the attitude of some that it is totally ok to listen to music and deafening volume levels that you can't hear anything at all from outside, not even honking. That is making driving considerably more dangerous, to everyone else.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    I've seen people claim that cyclists with earbuds in are a menace, when I know for a fact that they listen to loud music in their modern extremely insulated luxury SUV with shit visibility.

    yes, the cyclists are the menace here...

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  • [–] 1 point 1 week ago

    The cyclist is primarily risking his own health, the SUV driver is primarely risking the life of others. That is the key difference here. However, I am not a fan of either. Especially when being a cyclist I don't want to miss the situational awareness of fully hearing the environment, after all the ears are my mirrors, you can't look back all the time.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 week ago

    I was thinking the same thing but landed at opposite conclusions.

    It’s completely normal which is why humans shouldn’t be driving.

    Computer controlled public transport is the future. Humans aren’t designed to operate vehicles. We suck at it.

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