Driving Tip: Let There Be Light!

Pursued by kidnappers intent on killing him, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) intoxicated, attempts to flee his captors by speeding down the twisting, cliff-sided lanes of what is supposed to be the Hudson River in a Mercedes-Benz 300SC cabriolet.


Alfred Hitchcock's camera captures the blurred vision that one in Mr. Thornhill's hopelessly drunk state must have. Lanes blend, sharp corrections of the wheel must be made - and always at the last second, the character fights for consciousness. This scene from North by Northwest must be one of the most thrilling in cinematic history.

This past weekend, I couldn't help but feel a little bit empathetic for Mr. Thornhill. In the more than 600 miles that I've driven in the last few days, many of them were covered in the wee hours of the morning. I, too, found myself fighting for consciousness while driving at velocity.

This brings me to the point that sleep deprivation can be extremely dangerous and probably not unlike driving while intoxicated. The best thing to do if one is driving long miles in the middle of a long night is to find a secure location to stop and rest. If that isn't possible, I've found a new trick which may help.

Light.

I was surfing the internet - as I'm prone to do - and happened upon a jet lag study that was sponsored by British Airways. The test results of more than 1,000 participants showed that exposure to light during portions of the day send the appropriate signals to the brain's bio-clock to stay awake despite time zone differences telling one otherwise.

When one is exposed to dark, the converse is also true.

So, when one sits for long periods in a dark car, staring out upon a dark highway, it's all too easy to nod off.

I decided to put the study's results to the test and turned on the interior lighting. True, there was distracting glare, but I found myself much more alert than I had been while driving in the dark.

The difference was night and day (no pun intended).

Therefore, should you, dear reader, find yourself fighting off the Sandman who's been trying to make inopportune appointments, try turning on a light.

Tap the link to learn the specifics of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre's BA sponsored study: BBC