i once completely blanked for the entire 15-30 minute drive from uni home like legit one second i was pulling out of my parking spot and the next i was sitting in my truck parked at home with literally no idea how the fuck i got there.
It's cause your brain finds that route of travel so familiar it doesn't see it necessary to keep it in your memory so you just "forget it" and honestly it's terrifying.
The reason we forget things when going into a different room is because crossing doorways or other boundaries causes your brain to reset. Essentially your brain thinks that you don't need the information anymore and purges the memories to make room for new ones.
http://brainpages.org/why-you-forget-what-you-were-doing-when-you-walk-into-a-room/
My cousin has her masters in psychology and she told me that it's called Highway Hypnosis... based on the concept of when you take a turn and dont remember it but you're still on the right course. There are different types of hypnosis based on reoccurances and patterns that you follow on a regular basis - least crazy thing I've ever heard...
Along with Micro-sleeps caused by sleep deprivation like catfluff said, a great combination with this is a monotonous task like driving if you want to crash
Yeah me too. I got lucky - woke up as I started going over the road into a ditch at 80 km/h, swerved back into the road, bent my front axis and burst two wheels. Luckily an ambulance was right behind me, and it was 1am so there wasn't much traffic. Ten minutes before the same happened to a guy about 200 m further - he went over the sloped hill island into the incoming traffic. I hit a concrete drain block sticking out, so I didn't go over.
Didn't want to drive at night for long after that, and despite me easily falling asleep in a car, I simply cannot if I'm not driving with someone I trust, and know that they are sober and awake.
@parisqeen From what I heard he just had minor injuries luckily, hit no oncoming cars, just went right over and crashed into the ditch on the other side. Basically did a casual-not-so-casual four lane crossover from the top level side to the bottom level ditch, with an sloped island between, but managed to be okay somehow.
http://brainpages.org/why-you-forget-what-you-were-doing-when-you-walk-into-a-room/