brain feels blank/buzzed while driving

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I'm amazed I haven't killed anyone yet.

My mind is never on driving anymore these days, it's on my typical dreamland state whenever I'm driving which is pretty bad. My head feels buzzed, yet I NEVER drive after drinking alcohol (which I havent had in months) and I was certain I got plenty of sleep last night. Am I drinking too much caffeine maybe? Why is my head so messed up that I can't concentrate on driving when my mind is healthy enough for it???

I have encountered that while on certain anti-depressants or on my nightly commute home when they were long. I think, on the second part, it was because I dreaded the drive so much that I kind of disassociated from it.

well, i also go blank when driving, but for me it's usually a good thing; my internal dialoge and 'fantasy world' go silent and i notice that my awareness and reaction speed go up significantly, making my driving actually better and safer then when i would not fade away slightly...

Maybe yes. I have found that if I drive after drinking multiple cups of coffee, I sometimes wind up going to the wrong place because my brain goes on auopilot and I automatically make certain turns simply because I've made them many times before and not because they are the correct turns to make. It's driving by muscle memory as my hand turns the steering wheel. It's dangerous and I've scared myself suddenly realizing I'm in the wrong place. I now no longer drink >1 cup of coffee and the problem stopped. So definately try that.

Sometimes I go into a disconnected daze while driving, thinking about a myriad of things as my brain drives the car down the road almost on autopilot. Miles later I will realize that I am sitting there driving. This may just be a natural instinct for driving that comes with years of experience and that is common to everybody.

What is more dangerous with me is when I become distracted and begin to obsess on the letters and words of road signs as well as logos and advertising printed on the side of tractor trailers and billboards. I often count letters and rearrange them into nice symmetric patterns in my mind (watching movies with subtitles causes me to miss the movie while counting the text). When driving I must intentionally force myself to not become too obsessed with such text or I will easily become dangerously distracted.

I've always done this too, and it has confused me to no end. Driving is the one thing I can do well without concentration on it. It only works when I drive a route I know well, though. Like Janissy said, I make the memorized turns automatically, and if I zoned out while driving to a new place, I would definitely take a wrong turn or worse. I am also highly caffeinated a good part of my day, so that may have something to do with it.

it mostly happens when I drive according to well-known routes (to/from school or parents) or on the freeway (which is very monotonous)

it's essentially the result of the brain getting bored, a sort of sensory deprivation, which in the extremes can cause hallucinations (ie. in bus- and truck drivers)

Many people combat this by keeping their minds busy on something else, ie. singing along with the radio and (much more dangerously) read a book (many truck drivers tend to do this).

Seriously, I can't even believe that. It's things like this why I realize that even though I have a slower reaction timing than most people and I am unobservant, I still think I'm a better driver than most people.