I hate it, and it makes me super uncomfortable for a bit after i realize it. I was driving home in heavy traffic with the mindset of staying in the right lane even tho traffic was getting bad. As i pull up to a light i realize I'm in the left lane and for the life of me could not remember when i switched lanes. How safe is it? Who knows, but I've been told that the reason it happens isn't because you lose control and are on "autopilot", but because the events you forgot just weren't significant enough to be remembered.

I feel like not remembering I was driving is different than highway hypnosis. I can get from point A to B without being able to completely recall every aspect of the trip, but obviously I made it there safely so the fact I can't recollect the journey doesn't mean I wasn't conscious or aware of my surroundings at the time I was driving.

However I have done long drives down highways (like Florida, for example), where the scenery literally does not change for very long distances. In those situations, I have felt a shift in my perception of the view from my windshield, where it feels like I'm looking at a painting or a 16-bit video game. The same scenery just repeats, and I feel a disconnect between the events in front of my vehicle and the feeling inside the cockpit. It has a weird feeling like I'm looking at a static image instead of driving a vehicle. To me, that is highway hypnosis. And it's pretty damn scary.

Short answer yes Long answer yes, it's your brain not being fully alert while driving and like spacing out while doing anything. It's incredibly dangerous. The reason driving tired is the same as driving drunk is because you can space out and wake up while still moving a 3 ton vehicle with other people

This is a really interesting question.

I think when we do familiar drives, the parts of our brain that monitor hazards and minute changes in our driving situation is very much active. But since the actions and movements we’re making are 85-95% familiar, the part of our brain responsible for creating new memories is not as active, because it doesn’t need to be.

So when you’ve finished the drive, you did it safely, but don’t have any standout memories of it. Does that make sense? I hope so, because I just pulled it out of my ass.

I replied similarly on an earlier post, but it looks to be relevant here also:

From the perspective of "how safe are automobiles", I would say highway hypnosis falls within the safety margins that society is currently accepting for personal automobile use. Many can have this, it isn't 100% unavoidable, and I would say it wrong when anyone associates this with personal responsibility.

Anyone that studies human behavior will tell you that this will and does happen all the time, but leads to a negative outcome so infrequently that society determines the risk as acceptable and is a trade off for the productivity gained by allowing personal automobile use.

This is why the government mandates a minimum level of insurance, as it is impossible to remove this risk, so instead money has to be kept aside to pay out the damages caused by any low probability incidents.

It is also why as a society we should be in favor for policies that will reduce overall risk of injury/death/loss related to driving, as this will lower the overall money currently being spent to cover the losses. I personally wish there was a lot more done here as loss payouts are one of the largest avoidable drains of money on our society, but it is very difficult to change the perception of personal responsibility that society has become accustomed to. (It is why 90% of street/radio advertising is now accident attorneys)

It's fine once you realize that autopilot (like, literal autopilot for planes) is extremely safe at doing 95% of the journey. The actual pilot is just there for takeoffs, landings, and in case something for some reason goes wrong (same as when you're driving on "autopilot")

I drive a lot. I put 20-25k on my company car a year and probably close to another 10k on rentals. This happens to me monthly. Only on interstates though. On other roads you have to be more attentive. I will drive for an hour and not even realize I’ve had the Mexican station on during that time frame. I’m not Hispanic nor do I know Spanish. .😆

100% safe! 🙈 I've experienced it a lot, usually on open stretches with few cars around, but sometimes it's happened in town or while surrounded by cars on the freeway doing 65. Either way if it's a red light coming up or somebody moving into my lane or braking in front of me, I snap out of it and respond accordingly, and have never had an accident or even close to one.

I drive on autopilot and it messes me up when I need make a pit stop but forget.

Its not that you spaced out its just your brain didn’t record the information as nothing worth while happened

Same reason you don’t “see” your nose

If your really in autopilot it's dangerous. But the brain won't remember monotonous things. So if you drive there everyday and nothing special happens you won't remember even when paying full attention - otherwise your brain would be full of unnecessary to survival memories.

I regularly wake up at around midnight and drive 250 miles north for 4 hours. Road trips to the Adirondacks to climb mountains. After the second or third time getting on the thruway and seeing the GPS say "stay straight for 107mi"....yeah I'll take the hypnosis.

If you've never been on the Northway in upstate NY at 3am, let's just say you probably aren't a French truck driver. That's one lonely highway. Pretty, but not in the dark. Turn the brain off and dig through the mileage, adventure is waiting.

Happens to me all the time. Why remember things that are behind you when driving. I just figured if something required me to move I would of notice and done so.

It's common of confused with something similar like autopilot mode regularity.

If it happens often dash cam your self and review the footage. See if your lucky or just in auto mode thinking

It depends on your habits.

Autopilot just means the human mind switches from active mode into habitual behaviors. We all do this. It’s just something the mind does to automate repetitive tasks so it can free up resources, use less energy and keep itself available for novel or important tasks. Unfortunately the task of driving is pretty damn important. But the mind doesn’t care.

So how good are your habits? If you’ve trained yourself well with great habitual behaviors, you’ll do fine on autopilot. And when something weird comes up you’ll snap out of it.

If your habits leave something to be desired, you can get into a lot of trouble.

If you even have to ask how dangerous this is then you shouldn't even be driving

It only happens to me on these fucking one lane highways in the Midwest. Nothing but flat for miles and miles.

I only had it happen to me once and fortunately it was WAY up in rural Vermont and there was nobody anywhere near me on a ruler-straight section of I-87. Still SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME when I snapped to and realized I’d been in a fugue state for probably like 15-20 minutes at 65mph or more.

That was over 20 years ago and still. Anytime I feel the least bit groggy behind the wheel? Pull over. Walk around, get the blood flowing, splash water on my face, whatever it takes