Today is Drowsy Driving Awareness Day and the National Highway Transportation Association wants you to know that this is a real and present danger on Tennessee roads. Safety officials say that over 20% of all deaths in any year are caused by people falling asleep at the wheel. They report that a growing number of young parents, trying to raise children and work, are contributing to the climbing numbers of injuries and death. The latest startling statistics show that, last year, over 168,000,000 drivers reported driving while they were very sleepy and 103,000,000 of these actually admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel.
Experts say there are a few tips to help you if you find yourself on the road and sleepy. The first is to find somewhere to catch some sleep, but if that isn’t possible, you should pull over and do some fairly intense exercise, a leisurely stroll won’t help much, you need to get your heart rate up. Caffeine is recommended but remember that it takes about 20 minutes for that coffee or caffeine pill to kick in, so pull off and take a brisk walk or something physical while you wait for the caffeine to kick in. Don’t drive when you’re normally asleep. If you aren’t an early morning person, then maybe leaving at am isn’t a good idea for you. Lastly, don’t put on your favorite music or call someone with the intention of it keeping you awake. Experts say that the phone is just another distraction for your tired mind to juggle and music, even metal, is soothing to our brains if it’s something we enjoy and that could help put you in that hypnotic trance that precedes beings asleep at the wheel.
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