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Enjoy, but please don’t drowse and drive

Sat., Dec. 31, 2016

The following editorial is from the Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.)

With the New Year’s weekend coming up, authorities are reminding revelers not to drink and drive and to make plans ahead of time for a ride home after the party ends. This is as it should be; people who are drinking are not good judges of their impairment and driving prowess.

But the long winter nights and our hectic holiday schedules also provide a good chance to remind everyone of the dangers of drowsy driving. In 2014, there were 2,745 collisions in Washington where the driver was fatigued, asleep or ill, according to the state’s latest Annual Collision Summary. That was the seventh-leading cause of collisions that year and accounted for more crashes than crossing the center line or running a stop sign.

Washington state’s Target Zero campaign, which has set a goal of zero road fatalities by 2030, attributes 39 deaths and 194 serious injuries between 2012 and 2014 to drowsy driving.

Drowsy drivers can exhibit the same signs as drunken drivers. They have slower reaction times to developing situations. Their ability to focus on the road is compromised. And, of course, some of them actually fall asleep behind the wheel. If these drowsy drivers are caught, they can be ticketed for second-degree negligent driving, not to mention repercussions they could face for damaging property or harming others.

As with DUI crashes, drowsy driving accidents are predictable and easily preventable. A new study by AAA finds drivers who miss two to three hours of sleep a day more than quadruple their risk of a traffic accident, compared with drivers who sleep seven hours or more at night.

Specifically, drivers are twice as likely to be involved in a crash if they get five to six hours of sleep at night, more than four times as likely with four to five hours of sleep, and nearly 12 times more likely to crash with less than four hours of sleep.

“Teenagers, older adults and people who have a sleep deficit are among the highest-risk groups,” Jake Nelson, AAA’s director for traffic safety and advocacy and research, recently told CBS News. “One in 5 crashes where somebody dies involves a driver who was drowsy or hadn’t earned enough sleep the night before.”

So make a pre-New Year’s resolution. Don’t set out on a road trip if you’re tired. Take a nap first. Get someone else to do the driving. Wait until the daylight hours, when your body is used to being awake and alert.

If you’re already out driving and you feel drowsy, find a safe place to pull over and take a 20-minute nap. (Just be sure to give yourself enough time to wake up fully before you resume driving.) Stop at a rest area and take a walk around the parking area. Roll down the window. Get some coffee or something to drink, perhaps with some caffeine. Listen to talk radio. Switch drivers.

Whatever your technique to stay alert behind the wheel, please remember to employ it every time you find yourself yawning or just dull and drowsy. Minimizing the risk should be part of everyone’s New Year’s resolutions.