People have been known to do some truly bizarre things in their sleep, but operating a motor vehicle and managing to drive hundreds of miles is a highly unlikely (not to mention highly dangerous) scenario. That's what happened to one New Zealand woman who not only drove for hours but sent out text messages while asleep, the Huffington Post reports.
Just after midnight on Wednesday, local police received an emergency call from a woman who had been driving after taking her sleep medication. The woman, whose name was not released to the press, had allegedly been sleep-driving for 10 months in her silver hatchback. Officials began to track her down via her cell phone, and told HuffPost that tracking data revealed she was not only on her cell phone, but sending out text messages as she drove from her home in Hamilton to the beachside town of Mount Maunganui, 190 miles away.
"We have sought an urgent order forbidding her to drive and to seek medical advice on her suitability to remain holding her driver's licence," senior sergeant Dave Litton said to the Huffington Post.
The woman was found after driving for five hours, slumped over the wheel of her car with no recollection of her sleep-driving.
"While her being found safe and well is a relief for everyone involved, the potential for tragedy was huge," Litton said. "We're urging people suffering medical conditions to be open and honest with their doctors and seek advice on if the medication they are prescribed affects their ability to drive or not."
Driving while asleep or under the influence of sleep medication is extremely dangerous, and police are surely baffled at the luck of the woman who did not get into any accidents while in her zonked-out state of mind.
Sleepwalking and other activities performed during sleep, including complex ones like driving a car, has long fascinated scientists. As we have yet to learn much about sleep and its effects on the human brain, the little-understood condition evokes a sense of mystery, though scientists have linked the disorder to psychological disorders, genetics, and an immaturity of the central nervous system.
