Police hot-wire sleepy drivers with chili

If you’re wondering what our friends in China are doing, well, they’re doing that. According to traditional Chinese belief that people feel sleepy in the springtime, police are now feeding drivers – yes, your average Joe, or I guess in their case, Cho – raw chili at highway service stations to prevent them from falling asleep at the wheel.

Lucky for the drivers, chilies are quite popular in those provinces. Because if I were them, I would really hate to be forcefed crap that burnt my tongue without getting any kick out of it.

"It's really good to have some hot peppers when you are tired from driving. They make you alert." – van driver Chen Jun

The measures are not so extreme if you consider that China’s roads are possibly some of the deadliest the world has ever seen (with the obvious exception of roads in Turkmenistan, my home country, where there are no lanes and drivers only see one color on traffic lights).

Still, seems a kind of ridiculous way to stay awake. Haven’t they heard of coffee? Redbull? Loud music, for crying out loud? Then again, music probably isn’t the best alternative if the drivers already find it hard to pay attention to road rules.

Personally, I have never pulled an all-nighter, so I probably am not the best person to ask about how to stay conscious. That’s right, I go to Harker and the latest I’ve ever stayed up was 4. Nevertheless, what helped keep me awake that long was some good coffee, manually prying my eyes open, and wearing thin clothes so that I always had light goosebumps. Can’t fall asleep if you’re ridiculously uncomfortable.

What methods have you used when you needed to stay awake and alert?


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