Texting while driving is a major problem the world over, one that’s spurred several public safety campaigns including Werner Herzog’s recent hard hitting documentary. Given the inherent danger of texting while driving, doing it while you’re also asleep can’t be very safe. Somehow a woman in New Zealand managed to drive for hours in her sleep, miraculously doing no injury to herself or others. And she even sent a few text messages to friends!
The unnamed woman reportedly suffers from a sleep condition and was taking sleeping pills at the time. She was sleep walking when she got behind the wheel. Apparently she sleep drove for hours and fired off some sleep texts too!
The woman left her house in Hamilton, headed to Auckland and then to her former home in Mount Maunganui on the coast late on Tuesday night, driving for a total of five hours and about 190 miles. As she sleep drove, she texted her friends, who told the press they believed she’d sent them while in a state of waking slumber.
The woman has no memory of the ordeal, neither driving nor texting. However, law enforcement were tracking her through her phone’s GPS. Police said that the woman’s cousin finally found her at her former residence on the coast, passed out over the wheel of her parked car.
“While her being found safe and well is a relief for everyone involved, the potential for tragedy was huge and we’re urging people suffering medical conditions to be open and honest with their doctors and seek advice on the medication they are prescribed,” Sgt. Dave Litton told the New Zealand Herald.
The New Zealand Herald added, “Police have sought an urgent order forbidding the woman to drive and to seek medical advice on her suitability to remain holding her driver’s license.” Probably not a bad idea.
[Via: New Zealand Herald]