What is "highway hypnosis"?

What is "highway hypnosis"?

Reed Berry (Driving Expert) gives expert video advice on: What are the dangers of "highway hypnosis"?; How do I avoid "highway hypnosis"? and more...

Highway hypnosis is a very dangerous situation that really occurs when you're driving, generally late at night; generally on lonely stretches of road where there's a lack of mental stimulation. It's dark; you have no road signs to look at; you have no billboards to look at; and it's just dark all the way around you. All you may see is the line down the centre of the road and that's all you'll see for miles. You tend to become fixed on that, and due to the lack of sensory stimulation, you tend to be hypnotized. You may for a moment, forget your driving or become disoriented and forget where you are. This is highway hypnosis.