The danger of falling asleep while driving
How you can avoid falling asleep while driving
Conclusion
The danger of falling asleep while driving
If you end up falling asleep while you are driving the end result could cost you and/or other people their lives. The statistics about drivers that fall asleep behind the wheel are just as horrifying too. According to the National Highway Traffic and Safety Association, well over six hundred people died from “drowsy driving” accidents in 2020. Back in 2017, there were over eight hundred deaths and fifty thousand people injured due to “drowsy driving” according to the NHTSA. The CDC estimates these numbers are vastly underreported and estimates that several thousand deaths occur each year from drowsy or sleeping drivers.
Let’s look at what specifically occurs when you start to doze off at the wheel. Once you start getting drowsy while driving you are not able to focus on driving as well. This means reaction time drops significantly even when you are technically not asleep quite yet. Drowsiness leads to what experts call “microsleep” which is when you fall asleep for just a few seconds.
Those few seconds are several straight seconds where you are unable to react to anything at all. On top of that, when a driver is sleeping and crashes, the crash occurs at full speed thus resulting in a maximum amount of damage and the greatest possibility of injury or death. Always be aware of common signs that you are getting drowsy and/or falling asleep. If you experience any of them pull over and rest or let someone else drive. Some common signs of drowsiness while driving are:
- Struggling to keep your eyes open.
- Many yawns in a short period.
- Having difficulty maintaining your lane.
How you can avoid falling asleep while driving
It is imperative that you do everything possible to stay alert and focused when you drive in order to avoid getting drowsy and risking a severely bad accident. Here are a few ways that you can stay awake and alert while driving:
- Check your meds and avoid booze – Many medications can easily induce drowsiness as a side effect. Read the labels of any medications that you are taking prior to driving while using them. Never drink prior to driving.
- Always get enough sleep before driving – Do your best never to drive without a fresh seven or more hours of sleep under your belt. Driving with less than six hours of sleep is very dangerous as well as irresponsible.
- Music and conversation – In addition to and not as a substitute to the above steps, playing music and/or having a conversation with a passenger can help you stay alert and focused so that you will not begin to doze off.
- Coffee in emergencies – If you are driving somewhere and you feel you definitely are falling asleep, see if you can drink a couple cups of coffee. Then (after you drink the coffee), take a nap for about a half an hour. The NHTSA recommends this based on scientific studies that have been done.
If you feel like you cannot avoid falling asleep, pull over and get some rest in your car or at a hotel immediately. It can easily be the difference between causing an accident or not.
Conclusion
Driving while you are tired and could potentially fall asleep is both a terrible and very selfish decision. Thousands of people are injured and thousands more are killed in “drowsy driving” accidents each and every year. Always get enough sleep and if you do happen to end up catching yourself in a state where you feel you might fall asleep, pull over and take a rest as the risk will never be worth it. If you need a vehicle transported to Hawaii, get a free instant quote by using the form on our homepage!
