See if any of these scenarios sound familiar:

1. You have just wrapped up a weekend outing with friends, but need to get home so you can get to work in the morning. While you are tired, your house is only 15 minutes away, and you’re sure you can make it.
2. Today was the big presentation at work. You were up all night making sure every ‘i’ was dotted and every ‘t’ was crossed for the. Now that it’s over, you can feel the adrenalin drop, but you still are going to get behind the wheel to drive the half hour it takes to get home.
3. When you got behind the wheel you felt ok. An hour drive didn’t seem too much, but as you drive your mind starts wandering. Eventually you find yourself jarred awake when your vehicle rolls along the rumble strips on the side of the highway.

Each of these situations are accidents waiting to happen. Is there a good way to tell if you are too drowsy to drive? Here area a few points you can consider as you are driving:

1. If you start yawning frequently, this is an early warning sign. Your body is letting you know it’s tired.
2. If you are driving on regular roads, have you missed any traffic signals? Often as you get more tired, your mind just focuses on driving and you may blow right through the traffic signal or sign.
3. How close are you to the vehicle in front of you? Often as you get drowsy you will unintentionally begin tailgating the vehicle in front of you.
4. What do you remember about the last few miles of your drive? As your body gets more and more exhausted, you will likely remember less and less of what you are passing, just that you are driving.
5. Pay attention to your thoughts. Are they coherent? Or is your mind wandering all over the place?
6. Can you focus on your drive? The more tired you get, the harder it will be for your mind to stay focused on what you are doing and where you are going.
7. Are you noticing you are blinking a lot and your eyes are getting harder to keep open? Or is your head suddenly feeling really heavy?
8. Are you starting to lose control of the car? Has your vehicle started swerving and possibly you were jarred awake again once you crossed the rumble strips.

These are all signs that you are driving while drowsy.

While anyone can fall guilty to drowsy driving, there are some groups that are more likely to be caught driving drowsy than others. They are younger drivers, business travelers, shift workers or long shift employees, and those with undiagnosed sleeping disorders.

If there is a drowsy driving crash, is it four times more likely that it is a driver who is under 30 years of age than an older driver. The reason is that younger drivers often think they can do anything and pop right back up afterwards. This makes them natural candidates for drowsy driving. Often these younger people stay up late at night and miss out on a lot of sleep as they try to enjoy nightlife and still make it to school or work on time in the morning. Eventually that lack of sleep will catch up with them, and they may be behind the wheel of a car when it happens.

Business travelers are also more likely to be involved in a drowsy driving crash than many other groups because their body is often confused about times since they are traveling so frequently. A business traveler is more likely to be suffering jet lag, which can make them fatigued, and more susceptible to falling asleep at the wheel.

Shift workers and long shift employees are more likely to fall prey to drowsy driving because they are asking their bodies to work to new limits. Generally, those who work shifts are asking their body to work around what would be it’s regular waking and sleeping cycle. Even if they have worked the late shift for years, the body never really re-programs to understand that it should alter when it naturally wants to be awake and asleep. When they are driving home after that shift, their bodies are more likely to be tired, and they are more prone to falling asleep. Likewise, those who work extra long hours have already pushed their body to be operational longer than they usually would, and are likely fatigued before they even get behind the wheel.

Some people may be suffering from sleep disorders and not even know it. Millions of people have sleep disorders. Some of them have been diagnosed as such; others don’t realize they are suffering from disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea. But having these disorders can result in falling asleep anytime, day or night, and can be very dangerous if a person is behind the wheel when the urge to sleep takes hold.

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)