Highway Safety Info

If you have to drive your car instead of shipping it please drive safe. On long trips to your new house or location it is easy to push yourself too far and not be as alert as you should be.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has a great website that is worth looking at every once and awhile to catch up on road safety and other vital info. You can check out there site here.

Here are some tips from West Coast to help keep you safe. Remember to drive safe at all times.

DROWSY-DRIVING CRASH RISK

There are many factors that can increase the your risk of drowsy driving crashes.
They include:

• Sleep loss. Not getting enough sleep is reason number one for not being alert enough to react if there is a situation on the road.

• Driving patterns are also important. Including driving between midnight and 6 a.m.; driving a large number of miles each day or year, driving in the midafternoon hours (especially for older people), and driving for longer period of times without taking a break to rest.

• Use of any kind of sedating medications, especially anxiolytic hypnotics, tricyclic antidepressants, and many different antihistamines.

• If you have unrecognized sleep disorders like sleep apnea syndrome and or narcolepsy.

• Consumption of any alcohol.

These factors alone are dangerous. Experiencing any of them in combination will increase the risk of a crash.

GROUPS THAT ARE AT A HIGHER RISK

You should understand that there is no driver immune to the risk of drowsy-driving. The following groups are at a higher risk. This is based on evidence from reports and driving performance.

• Young people (ages 16 to 29), especially males.

• Shift workers whose sleep is disrupted by working at night or working long or irregular hours.

• People with untreated sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) and narcolepsy.
  
  

COUNTERMEASURES

To prevent drowsy driving and it's consequences, helpful behaviors include the following:

1. Planning to get sufficient sleep

2. Not drinking even small amounts of alcohol when sleepy

3. Limiting driving between midnight and 6 a.m.

4. As soon as you feel sleepy, stop driving.

Two things that can help with alertness: taking a short nap (about 15 to 20 minutes) and consuming caffeine equivalent to two cups of coffee.