The 24 Hours
Some medicines slow you down at the wheel. Don't stop taking them on your own. Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether you can drive.
Some common medicines, starting with first-generation antihistamines, reduce attention at the wheel. In a driving simulator, people who had taken diphenhydramine drove worse than people who had been drinking, and did not notice; a second-generation antihistamine performed like the placebo. You don't stop taking a medicine in order to drive: you ask whoever prescribed it.
0:00The village
0:08The box
0:16Worse than alcohol
0:24The alternative
0:32The person
0:41The messageDetails 57 s · 9:16 · four languages · generated images, voice and music, declared as such · 2026-09-15 · Drive Awake
The message is not to stop: it is to ask. Your doctor or pharmacist knows what alternative exists and when you can drive. It was a simulator, not the road: it shows the mechanism, not your case.
Eleven in the morning. The main street, a fountain, an open pharmacy.
A village in the Jura at eleven: the fountain, the main street, the pharmacy. It is the hour when people go to pick up a medicine, and that is the whole scene of this episode.
Watch this passage (0:00) →
Some everyday medicines slow your reactions. The warning is on the box, in small print.
Many everyday medicines reduce attention: older antihistamines, some sedatives, some painkillers. The warning is in the leaflet and on the box, in small print.
Watch this passage (0:08) →In a simulator, after a first-generation antihistamine, people drove worse than after alcohol.
In the Iowa driving simulator (Weiler 2000), forty people drove after diphenhydramine, after alcohol, after fexofenadine and after placebo. With diphenhydramine, driving was worse than with alcohol.
Weiler 2000 · DOI 10.7326/0003-4819-132-5-200003070-00004
Watch this passage (0:16) →
Same study: a second-generation antihistamine matched placebo. Not all are the same.
Fexofenadine, a second-generation antihistamine, could not be told apart from the placebo. Same indication, opposite effect at the wheel: they do not all act the same, and the difference is written on the box.
Watch this passage (0:24) →
Those who drove worse didn't notice. How they felt told us nothing about how they drove.
In the same study, reported sleepiness did not predict driving: those who drove worst did not feel it. This is the limit of every hour in this series: what you feel does not measure what you do.
Watch this passage (0:32) →The corrections made to this text, with their date, their reason and the lines they touched.
The study cited compares two antihistamines: diphenhydramine, first generation, and fexofenadine, second. That is the name on the box and the one a doctor recognises. The plates said «an older» and «a newer» antihistamine: a comparison with no second term, and a word that is no use at the pharmacy counter. French already used the exact term in both lines; the other three languages now use it too. The note under the line already read «second-generation», two centimetres from the plate that said «newer».
Lines touched IT line 3, IT line 4, DE line 3, DE line 4, EN line 3, EN line 4
Three hours already online go back into the edit, and the lines corrected after their first release go in with them. At 1 pm the review says the dip «can come» even without lunch, as the source puts it, and the closing line names an action: plan a stop between one and three. The page adds a source from real driving, Horne and Reyner 1995, with its limitation. At noon the two lunches get their numbers, 305 and 922 calories. At 11 am George Zisa's English lines go in, together with the French and German corrections that were still waiting. The new lines were reviewed blind by two judges per language.
Lines touched EN line 2, DE line 4, FR line 5, DE line 5, EN line 5, EN line 6
The same lines you see in the video, side by side. This is where the gaps between languages show: a turn of phrase that does not hold, a word out of place, a figure that changes weight. If you find one, the button next to the line opens the report with hour, language and minute already filled in. All episodes on one page →
line 1 0:01
IT
Sono le undici. Una fontana, una via principale, una farmacia aperta.
FR
Il est onze heures. Une fontaine, la rue principale, une pharmacie ouverte.
DE
Es ist elf Uhr. Ein Brunnen, eine Hauptstrasse, eine offene Apotheke.
EN
Eleven in the morning. The main street, a fountain, an open pharmacy.
line 2 0:09
IT
Alcuni farmaci comuni riducono l'attenzione. L'avviso c'è, sulla scatola, ma è scritto in piccolo.
FR
Des médicaments courants diminuent la vigilance. L'avertissement est là, sur la boîte, en tout petit.
DE
Manche gängige Medikamente beeinträchtigen die Aufmerksamkeit. Der Hinweis steht drauf, ganz klein.
EN
Some everyday medicines slow your reactions. The warning is on the box, in small print.
line 3 0:17
IT
In un simulatore si guidava peggio dopo un antistaminico di prima generazione che dopo aver bevuto.
FR
Sur simulateur, un antihistaminique de première génération a davantage dégradé la conduite que l'alcool.
DE
Im Simulator: ein Antihistaminikum der ersten Generation. Man fuhr schlechter als nach Alkohol.
EN
In a simulator, after a first-generation antihistamine, people drove worse than after alcohol.
line 4 0:24
IT
Nello stesso studio uno di seconda generazione non si distingueva dal placebo. Non tutti sono uguali.
FR
Même étude : celui de deuxième génération ne se distinguait pas du placebo. Tous ne se valent pas.
DE
Eines der zweiten Generation unterschied sich dort nicht vom Placebo. Nicht alle wirken gleich.
EN
Same study: a second-generation antihistamine matched placebo. Not all are the same.
line 5 0:33
IT
E chi guidava peggio non se ne accorgeva. Come si sentiva e come guidava erano due cose diverse.
FR
Ceux qui conduisaient moins bien ne le remarquaient pas. Leur ressenti ne disait rien de leur conduite.
DE
Und wer schlechter fuhr, merkte es nicht. Wie man sich fühlte und wie man fuhr, war zweierlei.
EN
Those who drove worse didn't notice. How they felt told us nothing about how they drove.
line 6 0:41
IT
Certi farmaci ti rallentano al volante. Non smettere di prenderli: chiedi al medico o in farmacia se puoi guidare.
FR
Certains médicaments ralentissent tes réflexes au volant. N'arrête pas ton traitement : demande à ton médecin ou en pharmacie si tu peux conduire.
DE
Mit manchen Medikamenten reagierst du am Steuer langsamer. Setz nichts einfach ab: Frag in der Apotheke oder beim Arzt, ob du damit fahren kannst.
EN
Some medicines slow you down at the wheel. Don't stop taking them on your own. Ask your doctor or pharmacist whether you can drive.
A question about this hour · 11:00
If you have ever been prescribed or recommended a medicine, were you told anything about driving? If so, what, and by whom?
There is no right answer: we are interested in the experience of people who drive, including for work.
The conversations happen on our channels. When there is one about this hour, we will link to it here.
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This episode is online. If something feels off, a word, a figure, a detail in the image, tell us below: two lines are enough. We read everything, and every correction goes into the diary, with its date.
We read every message. If it becomes a correction, the text changes here on the site and goes into the episode's diary, with its date and its reason. Corrections already made →
2026-09-15 · Drive Awake
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