Experts warned the drivers who will go out of the city during the Eid al-Adha holiday about the life-threatening "highway hypnosis" and recommended not to be sleepless during night journeys, to take a break every two hours, and to follow the travel process of the passengers in the vehicle.
Marmara University Faculty of Medicine Department of Mental Health and Diseases Lecturer Assoc. Dr. Ömer Yanartaş, who gave information about "highway hypnosis", which is defined as the driver's sleeping with his eyes open and seen as one of the most important causes of traffic accidents, said that hypnosis is a state of being too focused on a subject and going into a trance. He said it means a decrease in environmental awareness.
Yanartaş, who describes road hypnosis as the triggering of this hypnotic experience on the roads.
"Some predisposing factors for this have been described in the literature. For example, the constant flow of roads, constant external stimuli. This is a life we encounter mostly on highways, not on normal roads," he said.
Yanartaş made the following recommendations regarding the points to be considered in order not to get caught in highway hypnosis while traveling:
"First of all, 5-6 hours of regular and uninterrupted sleep, then the temperature in the car is not too hot or too cold, the driver's attention and control in order to protect the driver's attention and control, not using the driving assistive technologies too intensely, paying attention to fluid consumption and nutrition during the day, a very exaggerated dose. it is necessary to consume caffeine with beverages such as coffee and tea without escaping, to chat at a level to maintain attention in the vehicle if traveling in groups, and to take a break at regular intervals."
"NOTHING TAKES THE PLACE OF SLEEP"
Advanced Driving Techniques Specialist Serkan Çabuş stated that the travel and rest periods of commercial vehicle drivers are tracked with a tachograph device, but the drivers are exempt from these inspections.
Drawing attention to the long journeys made without rest, Çabuş, "Most of the accidents happen very short distances from the destination. During the journey, fatigue and insomnia suppresses, but they try to continue to arrive earlier, they insist, they do not want to take a break. So whatever you do, there is absolutely no substitute for sleep", he said.