My father tells a story about sort of "waking up" while driving on the motorway driving home for a holiday.
Not that he'd been asleep, but just so totally lost in his thoughts that he had absolutely no idea where he was. He assumes he must have been observing the laws and conventions of the road, because the last thing he remembered was getting onto the slip road at the beginning of the journey two hours previously. He didn't recognise any of the place names on the signs he was passing, and had to drive for another half hour before he did so.

I'm not sure if its admirably eccentric of him, or incredibly frightening.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Thu 28 Mar 2013, 8:44, 3 replies)

I've had this walking home from work.
Suddenly realizing that I'm not entirely sure which bit of the way home I'm on.

Also, when driving from Aberdeen to Birmingham -an easy 430 miles in what is pretty much a straight line, and requires no navigation once you're on the M6; I got home and realized that I couldn't remember at least half the journey.
( Slippery Mick ‏, Thu 28 Mar 2013, 10:45, closed)

I think that as we age, we wilfully forget things which are boring and routine.
When you're young everything seems new and a learning experience, but when you've done something a hundred times there's no need to be able to recall it. That might also explain why time seems to speed up the older you get.
( drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Thu 28 Mar 2013, 11:12, closed)

It's normal
They call it by various names, "highway hypnosis" being one of them. Your conscious mind just zones out and does whatever, leaving your car essentially on autopilot.

It's surprisingly non-dangerous. I remember reading a study that concluded that drivers with 100k kilometers' experience and above drive significantly better and safer while zoned out than while fully conscious of the fact that they are driving.

That being said, I seldom remember anything between my driveway and the barracks when driving to and from work. I usually design stuff in my head.
(GermanGuy invaded on, Thu 28 Mar 2013, 11:21, closed)