The responsibility for safe driving will always be on ourselves, the drivers, no matter how brilliantly roads and cars can be engineered to assist us. Avoiding drowsy driving is our own responsibility, and we can live up to it by keeping ourselves off the roads when we are insufficiently alert and fully alert when we are on the roads.

How do you know when you or a loved one is too tired to drive? Well, let’s face it. If you are the driver, and you are too drowsy to drive, you probably already know the truth but are too stubborn or feel to obliged to the drive ahead to face it. Do what is best and get yourself off the road. It will still be there when you are ready for it.

On the other hand, people sometimes are too tired to be very good judges of their own alertness. A person might not recognize the feeling of sleepiness, being too tired to notice anything clearly at all.

In either case, it would be helpful to know a few signs of drowsiness beforehand:

• Is the driver always yawning?
• Does the driver seem fidgety or irritable?
• Is the driver’s mind wandering, as in not finishing thoughts or following conversation?
• Is the driver piloting the car poorly?
• Has the driver let his or her head drop suddenly?
• More on signs of drowsiness

Dr. William Dement is the discoverer of the REM cycle, and the creator of the first sleep center at Stanford University. In his book, The Promise of Sleep, he instructs us to look to the eyes for signs of drowsiness. His personal experience and his studies have consistently indicated that a person will find the surest and earliest signs of drowsiness in the heaviness of the eyelids, an inability to keep one’s eyes open, a dryness or irritation in the eyes, or in an unfamiliar inability to focus on objects either far or near.

Very well, suppose it turns out that you have a long or even a short drive ahead of you, but one or more of the above signs – and your own gut – tell you that you are too tired to drive safely. Still, you have places to go and people to see. What are your options?

In the end, the best prevention against accidents that can result from drowsy driving is a well-rested and alert driver. Get yourself a good night’s sleep each and every night, and not only your driving will benefit.

Countermeaures to drowsy driving

Resources

Avoiding Drowsy Driving

Countermeasures

Responsibility and the Drowsy Driver

Signs of Drowsiness when Driving

How Well Are You Sleeping? - FDA Consumer Article

Circadian gene helps brain predict mealtime

Sleep less, live longer? - Increased Death Rate Associated
With Sleeping 8 Hours or More

Circadan Rythyms

"And miles to go before I sleep"

(Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening)