Highway hypnosis, also known as driving without attention mode (DWAM) or white line fever, is a mental state in which a person can drive a truck or automobile great distances, responding to external events in the expected manner with no recollection of having consciously done so.
While driving under the influence of “White Line Fever” the driver’s conscious mind is focused elsewhere, yet mistakenly thinking (or not thinking) they have all the information needed to drive safely.
Highway hypnosis is just one manifestation of a relatively commonplace experience, where the conscious and subconscious minds appear to concentrate on different things.
While common, it is deadly behind the wheel of a vehicle. For both the motorists and public safety officers who are working along the roadway.
Driving long distances on dead-straight highways at a constant speed of 55mph or 65mph can be deadly boring and can induce ‘highway hypnosis’, which causes motorists to be drowsiness and not concentration of driving.
HOW TO AVOID
- You can avoid this by taking regular breaks for food and drink and to stretch your legs.
- Never drive when you’re tired; get someone else to take the wheel for a spell or pull well off the road and take a nap.
- Never park on the hard shoulder of a freeway, but get off it and go to a rest stop.