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Driving Drowsy

You are not a reckless driver. For years, you have been informed about the dangers of driving drunk, so you would never consider driving under the influence. But what if you were told that you might be regularly partaking in a behavior that could be as dangerous as driving drunk? Driving drowsy is extremely dangerous, and often not discussed enough.

According to drivingdrowsy.org, 23% of adults polled say they know someone who has fallen asleep at the wheel and subsequently crashed their car. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 crashes, that are directly caused by fatigue, are reported to the police each year. However, due to the exact amount of accidents caused by drowsiness being almost impossible to determine, it is highly possible that many more crashes are the result of fatigue. So why are young drivers, supposedly learning the rules of the road, not informed about it more?

Many students at Woodland are kept busy with a multitude of obligations and responsibilities, and rank sleep pretty low on their priority list. Maybe you are one of those students, who ranks sleep somewhere above listening to the new Adele album, but way below schoolwork, sports, and extracurriculars. When you rank sleep that low, you are simultaneously putting your safety (not to mention the safety of everyone else you encounter on the road) equally low on your priority list.

Let’s say you normally get eight hours of sleep. You should be alert and well-rested in the morning, because eight hours of sleep is the ideal amount of sleep high school students should be getting. With that being said, the ideal amount of sleep high school students should be receiving and the real amount of sleep some are receiving could be vastly different.

Even if you do normally get eight hours of sleep, you might have a project one night and stay up two hours later than usual. Those two hours of sleep lost doubled your chance of being in a car crash. And if one night you have an abundance of tasks that shorten your time spent sleeping by three, four, or more hours? If you are sleeping less than five hours a night, you are four to five times more likely to be in a crash than those sleeping eight hours a night. It should also be noted that, for those who occasionally pull all-nighters, that driving after being awake for 24 consecutive hours is equal to driving with a .10 blood alcohol concentration (which is .2 over the legal limit.)

As dangerous as driving while fatigued is, only one state, New Jersey, has a law against the practice. Since driving while drowsy is not something that is discussed as much as driving under the influence, students should educate themselves on the risks and signs of being tired at the wheel.

If, while driving , you can feel your blinks getting longer, and your alertness decreasing, pull over. More seasoned drivers are more likely to pull over and take a nap when they feel themselves becoming tired, but younger drivers are less likely to do so. Not wanting to pull over and take a nap in the middle of driving is understandable, seeing as driving usually means someone has a destination (and a time-frame they want to reach that destination within) in mind.

Some ways in which you can avoid your eyelids getting droopy at the wheel are as follows: getting the required amount of sleep (the most obvious, but also most helpful tip), taking a break from driving if you are driving for two hours or more, driving with someone in the passenger seat for company (if you have had your license long enough to do so), drinking caffeine (which is not a substitute for sleep, but may help you stay alert) , and avoiding driving at the hours 2 a.m. through 6 a.m., when the human body wants to sleep the most.

Following these measures can help ensure the safety of both you and other drivers on the road.

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Tina is the Executive Social Media Director, and in charge of managing Hawk Headlines. She has spent three full semesters here, and is heavily involved with theater. Tina describes herself as a "pop culture aficionado".

Tina Vlamis

Tina is the Executive Social Media Director, and in charge of managing Hawk Headlines. She has spent three full semesters here, and is heavily involved with theater. Tina describes herself as a "pop culture aficionado".

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