fitzscoob

Ok so a normal drive into work for me, all built up areas, couple of schools inbetweeen, so i dont drive fast at all.

Normally a very carefull driver, do the same drive atleast twice a day every day, for some reason this morning i tuned out.

Coming up to a set of traffic lights which were red, a mum and her two kids were crossing, for some reason i didnt react, cant explain it, ended up slamming my foot on the break and coming to stop about 4 feet from her.

Right after that the shakes have set in a little, bit scared about what could have happened.

I really dont understand what happened, really has freaked me out, hopefully the kids are fine.

(if the holier than you crowd reply with the usual - look where your going *******, please bin it for a while)

ali66

Your bound to be shakey after that,especially not knowing why it happened,but the main thing is you DID stop!

SiDHEaD

Not enough sleep perhaps?

corvid

That has happened to me where your just crusing along and you forget that your actually driving in a way, especially if your travelling at the 30MPH limit you tend to relax, I've had to slam on at a set of red lights but never for a person crossing.

fitzscoob

sleep has been harder to get lately but nothing amazingly bad. I am juggling a little more work at the moment. But its not like I have not had to deal with it before. I have gone past the shakey stage, now im just pissed at myself.

Sorry had to vent somewhere otherwise I would have exploded at work, thanks for the replys and thanks for not just giving me ****

T4molie

Fitz,

TBH I would think that most people on here would at some time have had that happen to them...I know it's deffo happened to me - never for anyone crossing the road but I nearly drove straight across a roundabout when a car was coming round

Andy

stevev_ukturbo

I find this happens a lot when you do the exact same drive to work every day, your brain is an amazing thing and you have probably memorized your route subconsciously, in a moment of non concentration your brain took over and went about the same route.
I would guess that the lights are more often then not green?

my advice is to every now and again take a slightly different route to work, it will get the conentration levels up and make you think a little bit about what your doing. (and i dont mean that in a bad way!) ;-)

Steve

Reffro

Found myself tuning out on my drive to work a couple of years ago, nothing like this happened, but I found myself braking hard to avoid cars turning etc etc, more often than I should as I wasn't reacting as quickly as usual. To compensate I started leaving bigger gaps to the cars in front of me and rigidly sticking to the speed limit. Pissed off no end of people who used to sit behind me sometimes, but I was safer for it.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Has anyone else on here been driving the same route on "autopilot", and actually stopped at a green light?

I did it once, how embarrassing!

Alcazar

ProperCharlie

I have three routes that i use to get to work, and i rotate them fairly regularly. i find it helps relieve the bordom of driving down the same roads each day. also, depends on my mood. sometimes i prefer to sit on the motorway and not have to brake, chnage gear, turn the steering wheel too often. at other times i prefer the back roads.

even so, sometimes i get home and can't remember anything about the journey. aslo, sometimes i accidentally start driving my route to work when i'm supposed to be going somewhere else.

David_Wallis

i've done the autopilot thing and not remembered driving the journey.. scary!

deanimus

I took a diferent route this morning just to keep my interest up.

Turns out the usual route I took had massive delays so worked out pretty well for me

Wizzbang

I done something similar once, I was coming back from Brighton to Portsmouth late one evening (a route travelled only a few times). I remember driving along the Brighton seafront towards Worthing, I also remember that a Beth Orten cd had just started in the changer, I 'awoke' somewhere near Arundel when the cd changed to some heavy rock. To this day I cannot remember anything about driving through Worthing (many traffic lights) or joining up with the A27 (many roundabouts). I was being followed by a mate in his car, and once home I asked wether he noticed anything about my driving, nope he said.

Scary

WizzBang

Leslie

Very easy to lose the concentration and awareness especially when you are repeating a route that you know very well. Can't think of any magic answer to it except that it is down to you to try to avoid it again. This sort of thing used to happen in flying too but generally when you did it once you found the shock cured you. Perhap's it will be the same in your case.

Les

juan

Too much pot?

Faire D'Income

I can't comment on why you reacted slowly but I can offer some advice to relieve the tedium of regular journeys, in fact it applies to any trip you're taking.

Try a running commentary as you drive:

"Left hand bend 100m, bus approaching in opposite lane - keep a look out for children. Doddering old fool parralel to zebra crossing, maintain awareness in case they step out.

Red car at T junction, screaming kids so watch out for distracted driver..."

and so on and so forth.

At the very least it will help to keep you more alert but it should make you a more aware driver in general.

scoobynutta555

With that sudden stop did you spill any beer ?

fitzscoob

lol

Jay m A

iTrader: (2)

About the autopilot thing, I drove home from work to my flat the other day - the same journey I had done for 2 years. Problem was I moved into my house months ago

Tiggs

i blame the kids.

little miss fire

Have you haad something on your mind recently? Last week I was a liablility on the road!!!!

Normally I am aware of everything thats going on when I'm driving, last week I had lots on my mind, not necessarily thinking about them at the time, but nearly crashed my car 3 times!!!!!

Even reversed out of a parking space at Tesco after I was positive that I'd looked to find someone right behind me beeping their horn!!! Scarey.

fitzscoob

nothing more than usual to be honest, looking after the family company, looking after the gf who hurt herself at work the other night (can i blame her?), trying to cram for my university course, cant think of anything in particular.

thank god for the abs that helped a lot.

finally let the dark cloud pass, and i have put it down to a freakish thing, use it as a warning.

scoobynutta555

No harm done. Look at it as a warning. Sounds like you have a few things on your mind at the moment, try taking a little mental break and have some chill time to yourself

Nexuas

This one will sound really odd but here goes...

I went through a spat of bad driving a number of months ago. Always braking late, not see cars before pulling out of junctions etc... I scared myself a few time, and could not work out why.

I then had my hair cut. It was not hidiously long, but was always in my pehiperal vision, had my hair cut and my driving returned to normal.

I had an incident the other day where I pulled out onto a roundabout when another car was coming. Looked up and I could just see my hair entering my vision. Time for another hair cut me thinks

scoobynutta555

Do you use a grow bag as a pillow?