Driving the wrong way

[Beleth]

Weird unexplainable things don't usually happen to me. Weird explainable things happen to me all the time, but unexplainable, no.

One happened to me last night.

I had just finished getting a crown put on one of my teeth at the dentist. It was a long grueling procedure, full of Novacaine and the most uncomfortable dentist chair I had ever sat in. But it was over, and it was about 8 PM. (It started at about 6 PM. I have a dentist that is very understanding of business people.)

I live near San Jose, California. A huge storm front came through last night. It was the epitome of a dark and stormy night.

I knew how to get home. Get on the side street the dentist office is on. Turn left at the stop sign. Another left at the stop light. Don't go over the highway. Veer right at the cloverleaf and get on the highway going south.

But I wasn't going home right away. I had to go north on the highway. So I had to go over the highway, get on the cloverleaf to the right, and merge on to the northbound highway.

And that's what I did. Over the highway, cloverleaf to the right, merge. And I was on the highway.

The rain was pouring and the wind was whipping but the cars were few. It was pitch black out except for the headlights of the cars and their reflection on the wet pavement.

And the exit I was expecting to see just a quarter mile up the road wasn't there.

No sign for it, no nothing. This is weird, I thought. I thought I knew this road better than this.

I kept driving. I was on the highway for sure. And then about three miles further I saw something I recognized. The exit I would take if I were headed home. The one to the south of where I got on the highway.

But I got on the highway going north. I know I did. Well... at least I thought I knew I did.

Well, it freaked me out anyway.

[AnotherSillyAlias]

But I got on the highway going north. I know I did. Well... at least I thought I knew I did.

Well, it freaked me out anyway.

You obviously have your own private twilight zone in your brain ..... :)

[vcrepair]

Old joke about the wife calls her husbund who is driving home from work on his cellphone to warn him that the TV news says someone is driving the wrong way on the free-way. He replies: "Yeh, tell me about it, EVERYONE is driving the WRONG WAY! ;-)

[Just thinking]

Explainable -- you said it, here it is.

You thought you went over the freeway but didn't. Something in that dark, rainy night gave you the signal or feeling of doing such, but you turned early and went on the Southbound side. I'll assume you were driving a bit slower than usual, so your timing may have been a bit off, not just for thinking you went as far as the other side of the bridge, but also for the amount of time you spent turning right in the clover leaf. You were too much on auto-pilot.

I myself, in broad daylight, sometimes forget that I'm suppose to make a different turn than usual, and end up going where I didn't want to go (for a block or two, sometimes). Driving easily can become so automated that we tune ourselves out all too often -- not a good thing.

[TV's Frank]

I had just finished getting a crown put on one of my teeth at the dentist. It was a long grueling procedure, full of Novacaine and the most uncomfortable dentist chair I had ever sat in. But it was over, and it was about 8 PM. (It started at about 6 PM. I have a dentist that is very understanding of business people.)

Hmmmm.....

[LW]

You were too much on auto-pilot.

That's a probable explanation, in my opinion.

My own automation doesn't happen when driving as I drive only once every couple of months. Instead, it happens in buses.

I usually read a book while commuting in a bus. When I'm going on some of my standard routes (there are five or six of them), I can concentrate fully on the book, then at some point I just put the book in the bag, press the 'stop' button, raise and step out of the bus. Without looking around me at any point. And I end up standing in the correct bus stop.

Except once a couple of weeks ago. There was the strange feeling that I got when I looked forward and noticed: "Hey, someone has removed the bicycle road from there. And where's the underpass?" At that point I finally realized that I had gotten off the bus one stop too early.

The strange thing was that I had a very clear recollection of the bus passing that particular stop. So there was something that I noticed that gave my brains the signal: "we are now passing the traffic lights that are on the top of the long hill". What was the cause of that signal, I don't know.

[Soapy Sam]

I wonder if it's legal to drive so soon after a local anaesthetic.

Clearly it's unwise.

[Beleth]

Let me clarify. Novacaine doesn't last all that long, and it had about 75% worn off by the time I had gotten in the car.

I know of no evidence that indicates that a local anaesthetic like Novacaine impairs one's driving skill. Certainly they don't mention it at the dentist's office. So calling it "unwise" seems like jumping to conclusions.

[jimlintott]

Hey, I've done it on a clear sunny day in the middle of the afternoon. No drugs involved!

The kids and I were driving through B.C. and turned left across the highway to stop for food and fuel. Less than an hour later while leaving I turn right back onto the highway. Well to a guy from Saskatchewan all mountains and trees look the same. We drove for 45 minutes until I started to recognise things.

We had a good laugh about it. Worse things have happened.

[Mrs. Hmmphries]

I wonder if it's legal to drive so soon after a local anaesthetic.

Clearly it's unwise.



Novicane doesn't effect anything but pain receptors in the local area into which it is injected.

[jimlintott]

Actually novocaine (or something similar) can effect your driving. One time I had a deep plantars wart removed the heel of my left foot. Driving home was wierd because I couldn't feel the clutch pedal at all.

If you steer with your teeth, a trip to the dentist could be dangerous.

[drkitten]

If you steer with your teeth, a trip to the dentist could be dangerous.

I'd argue that if you steer with your teeth, a trip anywhere could be dangerous. How do you see over the dashboard?

[David Swidler]

Ask those little old ladies.

[Soapy Sam]

In the spirit of scientific research, I had a toof out today. Lignocaine. Took two (male) dentists. My teef ain't so good on top, but the roots go all the way to my knees.

Anyway I printed out some random number arithmetic tests last night and a couple of IQ and spatial tests from a magazine and ran through them in the car park immediately afterwards. Can't say I noticed any sluggishness or anything, which supports the comments of posters above. I then drove home, threw some gear in the car, drove 20 miles north and walked up Ben Lomond - a 974m high hill north of Glasgow. Great view, fair bit of snow & ice on top. (I do things like this when I feel seriously anti social). Again, I'd have to agree (if Ligno and Novocaine are similar), that I felt no spatial or other disorientation. I did find it a bit hard to concentrate , because I had (have) a sore jaw, so maybe that's all it came down to Beleth- you had a lot on your mind, you were in some discomfort and you just forgot, momentarily, where you were headed?

[Beleth]

I did indeed have a lot on my mind. The weather was awful, I needed to make a stop before I went home and was trying to calculate the best route there, and I had spent 90 out of the previous 120 minutes in a stressful situation with my brain very close to the same level as, if not lower than, my heart.

I remember seeing the overpass and saying to myself "Stay to the left. Don't turn right until you go over the overpass." And I remember making a sharp, long right -- the type typically associated with 270-degree turns in cloverleafs and not the 90-degree types. But in all honesty, I do not actually remember going over the overpass.

So one of three things happened:
1) I did in fact take the first right instead of going over the bridge and taking the second right.
2) I went over the bridge, took a right, went back under the bridge, stayed in the merge lane and got back on the bridge going the other way, went over the bridge again, looped around again, and got on the highway going southbound.
3) God physically lifted me and my car up off the northbound highway, turned me around, and set me back down going southbound.

I list these in order of probability.