Why long drives in automatic cars may be dangerous for you

whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Source: Why long drives in automatic cars may be dangerous for you - Times of India
Do you drive an automatic car? And do you go on long drives?
If the answer to both questions is yes, here’s an advice: stop after one to two hours to relax your legs, wear comfortable clothes and keep yourself hydrated while driving.

Not doing so may lead to a health scare similar to what happened with 30-year-old Saurabh Sharma from west Delhi.
Sharma nearly died last month when the immobility of his left leg, while driving a luxury automatic car from Delhi to Rishikesh and back, caused a clot in the veins of his leg. It is also referred to as deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The clot then travelled to his lungs through the bloodstream causing pulmonary embolism — blockage in one of the arteries of the lungs due to the blood clot — which led to decreased blood flow to the vital organs, including his heart and brain.

Sharma suddenly developed breathing difficulty, became unconscious and collapsed.




Medical examination at a local hospital revealed his blood pressure and pulse rate were so low they couldn’t be recorded, after which he was rushed to Max super-specialty hospital in Shalimar Bagh for suspected cardiac arrest.

There, the doctors managed to revive him after 45 minutes of continuous CPR. Meanwhile, echo conducted while the CPR was still on showed the right chambers of Sharma’s heart were dilated. “He didn’t have any history of heart disease. So we explored further to find the cause of his fatal condition and it was revealed that he suffered from DVT in his left leg, which led to pulmonary embolism,” Dr Naveen Bhamri, director and head of the department of cardiology at Max said.

He added that drugs to dissolve the blood clot were administered in high dosage on immediate basis. “We also administered medications several times the normal dosage to increase his blood pressure. Finally, after 24 hours, Sharma regained consciousness and his blood pressure became stable,” Dr Bhamri said. Due to low BP over a long period, Sharma’s kidneys weren’t functioning properly and he was put on Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy.




“It’s a miracle he survived. His story has a message for people who drive for long hours. They should take regular breaks,” said Dr Yogesh Kumar Chhabra, consultant, nephrology at Max Shalimar Bagh.

“Smokers, obese persons, people who have undergone surgery recently or those suffering from prolonged illnesses are a at higher risk, but it can happen to anyone,” said Dr Devendra Kumar Agarwal, senior consultant, cardiology at Max.

tl;dr Man almost died because of leg cramp while driving a car with "automatic features". @Desmond David @Nerevarine @billubakra @Vyom @anupam_pb @SaiyanGoku any example of such cars.
 

SaiyanGoku

kamehameha!!
tl;dr Man almost died because of leg cramp while driving a car with "automatic features". @Desmond David @Nerevarine @billubakra @Vyom @anupam_pb @SaiyanGoku any example of such cars.
Most manufacturers are introducing Automatic transmission on highest variant of their cars these days. Back in 2017, we were looking to get Tata Tiago/Tigor AMT variant but it overshot the budget.
For learners, manual transmission cars should be preferred IMO. They are cheaper too.
 

Desmond

Destroy Erase Improve
Staff member
Admin
Source: Why long drives in automatic cars may be dangerous for you - Times of India


tl;dr Man almost died because of leg cramp while driving a car with "automatic features". @Desmond David @Nerevarine @billubakra @Vyom @anupam_pb @SaiyanGoku any example of such cars.
The whole article doesn't establish the relation between automatic cars (or rather "car with automatic features") and the guy's health problems. Seems like clickbait crap spreading FUD against automatic cars.
 
The whole article doesn't establish the relation between automatic cars (or rather "car with automatic features") and the guy's health problems. Seems like clickbait crap spreading FUD against automatic cars.
+1
Whether your drive auto or MT, you should stop & stretch your legs every few hours. There's no advantage of MT over AT other than being cheaper, some say it helps a bit with attention, but you don't usually change gears on a highway, so I don't see how MT helps with that. You can fall asleep while driving for on a highway irrespective of MT or AT.

1 lakh premium over MT is a big amount for Indians buying something like a 5-10lakh car, whereas most cars sold in US are $20000+, so $1500 isn't much of a difference for them for the added convenience, so almost every car has AT there.
 
OP
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whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
The whole article doesn't establish the relation between automatic cars (or rather "car with automatic features") and the guy's health problems. Seems like clickbait crap spreading FUD against automatic cars.
Seems like you are right,found this CDC article:
Blood Clots and Travel: What You Need to Know | CDC
Most information about blood clots and long-distance travel comes from information that has been gathered about air travel. However, anyone traveling more than four hours, whether by air, car, bus, or train, can be at risk for blood clots.
 
This is illegal as well as dangerous,right? Btw how can you do this without avoiding an accident(unless extremely lucky) anyway?
Yes, just saying falling asleep is possible in both cases, AT or MT. Some say MT is better as you are attentive due to changing gears, I say that's not true.
 

sling-shot

Wise Old Owl
This is illegal as well as dangerous,right? Btw how can you do this without avoiding an accident(unless extremely lucky) anyway?
Looks like you missed his point. He probably meant to say that probability of dozing off while driving an automatic is higher compared to driving one with manual transmission.
 
OP
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whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Looks like you missed his point. He probably meant to say that probability of dozing off while driving an automatic is higher compared to driving one with manual transmission.

You can fall asleep while driving for on a highway irrespective of MT or AT.

I was asking about how one can fall asleep while using MT(I am not a car driver but have experience of long car travels hence the doubt).
 
I was asking about how one can fall asleep while using MT(I am not a car driver but have experience of long car travels hence the doubt).
IF its highway, you can, esp if its a good one, like those 4 or 6 lane ones w/o a lot of traffic. Maybe you go beyond the speed limit. I try to stay under 75kmph because my father was fined once by a camera.
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
My perspective on this...

Excluding the cases where a driver has been deprived of sleep or suffers from some disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea etc, chances of driver falling asleep on Indian roads is very less I suppose. I have no stats here though. Even on Expressways even though they are somewhat comparable to Interstate highways of the US, the driving is still ‘Indian’. Illegal lane cutting, honking, wrong overtaking, heavy vehicles in innermost lanes and so on, so one has to be over attentive always.

Your brain falls asleep I believe when some sort of calmness & monotony sets in. That’s why all meditation/sleep music’s have same soft tone repeatedly played again and again to let you brain feel drowsy.

Whereas in the US & other such countries the driving is very orderly, outside area on interstate highways is baron, there are no interruptions for a long time on a long stretch of road and this unchanging repeated experience of audio visual sets monotony & eventually drowsiness in brain causing fatigue and one may fall sleep momentarily. In the US they sometimes have shoulder rumble strips besides the road so if your vehicles veers off course away to the sides the friction between tires and the road shall make a sharp screeching noise causing you to abruptly get awake and hopefully regain control of vehicle.

So a lot of attention is given to guidelines on preventing sleeping behind steering wheel in all DMV manuals there and age related differences in driving habits and patterns.
 
OP
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whitestar_999

Super Moderator
Staff member
Excluding the cases where a driver has been deprived of sleep or suffers from some disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea etc, chances of driver falling asleep on Indian roads is very less I suppose. I have no stats here though. Even on Expressways even though they are somewhat comparable to Interstate highways of the US, the driving is still ‘Indian’. Illegal lane cutting, honking, wrong overtaking, heavy vehicles in innermost lanes and so on, so one has to be over attentive always.
It may seem so but the reality is much different.
Bad night's sleep causes 10% accidents on road | Hyderabad News - Times of India
40% of highway accidents occur due to drivers dozing off

A recent case:
Yamuna Expressway bus accident: Driver likely asleep behind wheel, investigation reveals
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
All those cases are of exhaustion which I have excluded from my perspective at the starting statement itself. If you are exhausted or deprived of sleep you shall fall asleep regardless of the situation even if you hear a load noise. I am talking about falling asleep under normal conditions which should be very rare in India but may happen in advanced contries.
 
All those cases are of exhaustion which I have excluded from my perspective at the starting statement itself. If you are exhausted or deprived of sleep you shall fall asleep regardless of the situation even if you hear a load noise. I am talking about falling asleep under normal conditions which should be very rare in India but may happen in advanced contries.
My point was, you can fall asleep on highways, irrespective of transmission type. It doesn't matter the reason for falling asleep, but it surely happens in India, evidence provided by whitestar.
As I said earlier, "There's no advantage of MT over AT other than being cheaper".

The headline is very misleading in trying to put some blame on AT. AT or MT, you should always take stops every few hours while on a long drive. Keep yourself attentive & give some exercise to your legs during such breaks, just walking a bit should be enough.
 

patkim

Cyborg Agent
I am referring to the query asked by whitestar_999 quoted below. Probably it seems I did not quote it correctly in the post.
Even I do think that it has nothing to do with MT or AT. It has everything to do with your health/condition and what you experience while driving. So even if you are on highway with MT and experience this state of monotony you might just fall asleep even if you are in a perfectly healthy condition. I have just slightly felt it once or twice when it was just a smooth ride once on Mumbai-Pune expressway.

I was asking about how one can fall asleep while using MT(I am not a car driver but have experience of long car travels hence the doubt).
 
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Extreme Gamer

僕はガンダム!
Vendor
My perspective on this...

Excluding the cases where a driver has been deprived of sleep or suffers from some disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea etc, chances of driver falling asleep on Indian roads is very less I suppose. I have no stats here though. Even on Expressways even though they are somewhat comparable to Interstate highways of the US, the driving is still ‘Indian’. Illegal lane cutting, honking, wrong overtaking, heavy vehicles in innermost lanes and so on, so one has to be over attentive always.

Your brain falls asleep I believe when some sort of calmness & monotony sets in. That’s why all meditation/sleep music’s have same soft tone repeatedly played again and again to let you brain feel drowsy.

Whereas in the US & other such countries the driving is very orderly, outside area on interstate highways is baron, there are no interruptions for a long time on a long stretch of road and this unchanging repeated experience of audio visual sets monotony & eventually drowsiness in brain causing fatigue and one may fall sleep momentarily. In the US they sometimes have shoulder rumble strips besides the road so if your vehicles veers off course away to the sides the friction between tires and the road shall make a sharp screeching noise causing you to abruptly get awake and hopefully regain control of vehicle.

So a lot of attention is given to guidelines on preventing sleeping behind steering wheel in all DMV manuals there and age related differences in driving habits and patterns.

Falling asleep on the wheel is a function of exhaustion, not attentiveness.
 

icebags

Technomancer
The whole article doesn't establish the relation between automatic cars (or rather "car with automatic features") and the guy's health problems. Seems like clickbait crap spreading FUD against automatic cars.
apparently, some blood clotting took place due to lack of movements below waist area. i might have had conditions before hand though.
 

billubakra

Conversation Architect
Once you drive an AT car, you won't shift to a MT car, even if you love shifting the gears and stuff. It is so much comfortable than the latter. By saying that ofcourse an AT dzire will be less comfortable than an AT say Honda or Hyundai. No electric car will come with MT. It will have peddle shifters like they have in Taycan but not proper gears. Which car was the guy in the first link driving btw? I have stopped visiting these links, 90% of the times they are click baits and the the rest 10% are paid promotions.
Coming to the what's been discussed above, I think AD level 2 or above will reduce accidents if it is applied with care. By that I mean improving roads, signs etc. etc. Exceptions will be there of course. Level 5, which Tesla will launch in a year or two, will mark the end of the human drivers. I highly doubt that people 20 years from now will ever drive cars.
 
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Once you drive an AT car, you won't shift to a MT car, even if you love shifting the gears and stuff. It is so much comfortable than the latter. By saying that ofcourse an AT dzire will be less comfortable than an AT say Honda or Hyundai. No electric car will come with MT. It will have panel shifters like they have in Taycan but not proper gears. Which car was the guy in the first link driving btw? I have stopped visiting these links, 90% of the times they are click baits and the the rest 10% are paid promotions.
Coming to the what's been discussed above, I think AD level 2 or above will reduce accidents if it is applied with care. By that I mean improving roads, signs etc. etc. Exceptions will be there of course. Level 5, which Tesla will launch in a year or two, will mark the end of the human drivers. I highly doubt that people 20 years from now will ever drive cars.
Taycan is a unique EV that has a gearbox. Most EVs don't have a gearbox, they just use some fixed gear ratio. Taycan likely used it to get better top speed & better acceleration at higher speeds. Tesla Model S is great for a quarter-mile drag but towards the end, other super cars start catching up as Tesla's acceleration plummets at high speeds. Most won't drive at 150 kmph+, but Porsche being Porsche, needed it.

The only thing stopping the adoption of AT in India is cost, that's it. 1 lakh difference is too big for Indians who spend even 10lakh on a car. Autonomous driving is very far away for India, maybe it will be here properly a decade after lv5 adoption becomes mainstream in the US & EU. Tesla has missed its targets a lot in terms of time, let's see when Teslas become fully autonomous.
 

billubakra

Conversation Architect
Taycan is a unique EV that has a gearbox. Most EVs don't have a gearbox, they just use some fixed gear ratio. Taycan likely used it to get better top speed & better acceleration at higher speeds. Tesla Model S is great for a quarter-mile drag but towards the end, other super cars start catching up as Tesla's acceleration plummets at high speeds. Most won't drive at 150 kmph+, but Porsche being Porsche, needed it.

The only thing stopping the adoption of AT in India is cost, that's it. 1 lakh difference is too big for Indians who spend even 10lakh on a car. Autonomous driving is very far away for India, maybe it will be here properly a decade after lv5 adoption becomes mainstream in the US & EU. Tesla has missed its targets a lot in terms of time, let's see when Teslas become fully autonomous.

I think that you are talking about the taycan turbocharged one. Yes it has a gearbox but not like the traditional ice cars. The model s's latest ota update has raised the top speed to 160+ in ludicrous/raven mode.

But still at cars are catching up with the mt cars here.
 
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