RZS10 wrote: ↑21 Aug 2019, 23:02
Andres125sx wrote: ↑21 Aug 2019, 20:32
That link is focused on falling asleep, but thanks
Which one do you mean?
Most papers about that subject say it's many many hours before monotonous driving gets actually dangerous.
That 2h drive / 30min break suggestion is for "everyone" so even the worst drivers in a relatively bad condition ...
But i agree to some extent ... yes, in theory one might lose some focus and one might not be at peak mental capacity and it might get worse with every hour driven, but even after several hours most will be well fit enough to drive properly without being tired - this will of course be very different for everyone (like Big Tea just wrote, one hour stints might work for him, i'd get annoyed at the frequent stopping and loss of 'flow')
I assume it has much to do with how you drive though (monotonous consistent speed or flowing with traffic keeping you 'active') and where you drive (US all lanes go the same slow speed, Autobahn allows doing up to 200kph with moderate traffic) but In theory long driving might increase the chances of losing focus for a brief moment, and there's a chance that this could happen just in the wrong moment leading to an accident but the loss of focus could just as well be caused by a variety of things that also require you to take your eyes off the road ahead like changing the radio station, sneezing, checking whether you're over the speed limit, checking the mirrors, looking at the satnav, picking your nose etc
Very theoretically the risks increase the longer one drives but so does every kph speed increase for example, so ideally in order to be super safe and to stay focussed one should crawl around on the right lane stopping at least every 2 hours for 30 minutes.
In the real world barely anyone does that and it works almost all of the time, unfortunately some are overconfident in their driving skills or their physical state and end up dead or worse killing someone but fortunately we don't live in a bleak world where we're forced to do things a certain way because we 'should' or because of the off chance something bad might happen.
So ultimately it doesn't matter, it's (as with many other things) theory vs. praxis, someone will study something and make a
very safe suggestion, it's all fine as long as it doesn't end up being law ... and I'm not suggesting people should drive for 8 hours straight after a long day of work or anything but there's absolutely nothing wrong with driving for 6 hours straight when you're well rested and if your car allows it...
Sorry but can´t agree with this. I know my mentality is far from usual for most people, but I think when you sit behind the wheel you must keep focus on the road 100% as any distraction may be fatal. As stated 99.999% of distraction won´t be fatal, but that´s not any guarantee next will be. We all get used to driving, we do it daily, and that causes a false feeling of safety. That´s what the
dirty dozen defines as complacency, wich basically means when someone have lots of experience in something, he/she easily lower his/her guard. It´s like if we connect the autopilot and drive without even thinkng about it. That´s IMHO a big mistake, driving can be done automatically, but when some problem does appear, that lack of focus on the road will mean your reaction time will be seconds instead of tenths, and that´s a huge difference in a dangerous situation wich may be the difference between dodging an accident, or killing yourself/your family/friends or any other family.
Driving for hours continuously causes same effect, lack of proper focus on the road. Driving is moving more than a ton of metal around with people you usually love inside and whose lifes depend on you, at speeds wich require dozens meters to stop it, and we usually forget this simple and scary fact. We should repeat this to ourselves frequently to avoid complacency. I do it and even so I commit the above mistakes from time to time
Apart from that, I´m not sure what cars do you guys drive, or what seats you use, because my butt ask me for a break each 2-3 hours of driving