For those who drive all night - straight thru...

[maxiesmom]

I would not pay money for a 30-minute nap. I'd feel safe at the rest stops even if I didn't travel with a handgun.

I honestly don't think a 30 minute "power nap" in a rest area is sufficient good sleep to make someone safe behind the wheel.

 

[crzy4dsny]

I honestly don't think a 30 minute "power nap" in a rest area is sufficient good sleep to make someone safe behind the wheel.

You shouldn't comment on someone else's abilities. If its something you can't do or something that won't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.

 

[maxiesmom]

You shouldn't comment on someone else's abilities. If its something you can't do or something that won't work for you, doesn't mean it won't work for someone else.

The truth is many people push themselves harder than they should when driving. I know many people who admit to driving when they shouldn't have been, when they were so tired the safe thing would have been to stop and get a hotel.

It is my opinion that a 30 minute nap in a well lit rest area is not good sleep. If you are at that point you should get decent rest, not a few snatched minutes. And I will offer that opinion if I choose to. You don't have to agree with it.

If it was safe for the vast majority of drivers, there wouldn't be so many rules governing how long truck drivers can drive without stopping.
Think of it this way--would you feel secure if your airline pilot was up flying all night, and then snatch 30 minutes of sleep before getting back behind the controls? I sure wouldn't. And there is a lot less traffic, a lot fewer people to run into up there, than there is for a car on the highway.

 

[mikek]

Fat chance i could get by with a power nap anymore (and I'm only in my 40s but somehow seems like i'm 70- lol.) but in my younger years in college, friends and i would leave NJ around midnight after work and drive straight through taking turns and napping for short periods in the passenger seat.

But i actually thing that's exactly what airline pilots do on the red eye flights (although not officially). I seem to recall that the FAA recently said they thought it was a better idea to allow the power naps and perhaps even encourage them so that pilots are better rested rather than ignoring that they dont get enough sleep otherwise.

here's a source:
http://national.news21.com/2010-2/pilot-cockpit-napping-ntsb/index.html

READ THAT- it's amazing-
says in the military they even let pilots flying ALONE take 10-20 minute power naps!!!! and sounds like they have systems in the planes to wake them up.

nasa and FAA studied and found that short naps up to 40 minutes are safe AND effective.

(googled some more- seems like the FAA has found that fatigue is the problem- and it's not necessarily caused by sleepiness- so the naps break up the fatigue)

 

[Jingle]

We have driven straight through from WI multiple times. Count me as another one who would never do it again! We have seen too many serious and fatal accidents during the night. There were times I struggled to stay awake.

If it's not you falling asleep, it could be someone else. I'll stop my preaching now! After all, I did it so who am I to tell someone else not to do it.