Going to school one time I was very tired. My school is only 4 minutes away even if you get the red light. I was waiting for the light and I dozed off. When I awoke maybe 2 minutes later I was alone in the center of the road with a red light in front of me. It was like an alien had abducted everyone, but then I realized I had fallen asleep.



Glad your ok though.

 

This happened to me as well.
I was driving to go camping following some friends and my friend went to sleep then I started nodding off. When I awoke I drifted towards the center, luckily there was a bunch of dead grass before the center divider.

After that both me and my passenger were awake the rest of the drive.

 

I remember reading a study conducted on sleep deprived drivers....they are as dangerous or even more so than drunk drivers.

 

Every week i drive 2400km to 3600km, from Germany to Portugal, my advice is every time you feel tired, stop at a gas station or something and rest, don

 

It seems simple enough to just pull over and go to sleep, but what about those of us that dont want to be jacked, or jumped, or attacked while asleep.

Usually, on a road trip, you probably drive through many "bad" parts, and pulling over in "unknown territory" isnt really an option.

Any suggestions with that?

 

Yep. Lock the doors and close the windows.

 

And keep it in gear with your foot on the clutch and finger on the start button!

 

I was crossing Texas a few years ago after many hours driving from Cal to Fla in an 1980 Vette doing 100+. I knew I was tired but I was not dozing off. All of a sudden I hit something on the Interstate that was laying across the road. It was the wee hours in the a.m. so nothing could be noted using the rear view mirror. In the next few seconds I began to over use my imagination and actually thought that I may have hit a pedestrian or a bycycle or even a motorcycle. I was so concerned that I pulled to the side of the road and waited for severel cars to pass me by before continuing with my trip. I knew that if I'd actually hit someone there would be a pile of lights behind me stopping to give aid.
This was just a short story to prove to myself that when your tired even though you may not be dozing off, your mind can play some unusual tricks on you.
My conclusion later is that I hit a huge rut right in the middle of the interstate or perhaps an objet that fell off a truck.
Even sranger, at daylight I could see no damage to my car.
Twilight Zone? I'll never know.

 

i've done this few times. I just pull over anywhere and sleep for about 15 minutes and everything is better. 15 minutes might be the difference between life and death. it's not worth dying for 15 minutes or 10mph more.

 

I can't fall asleep at the wheel. My exhaust is WAY too loud to sleep. It's about 20 dBs louders than the J's 70rr at WOT.