A Near-Near-Death Experience and the Importance of Driver’s Education

A Near-Near-Death Experience and the Importance of Fatigue Training in Driver’s Education

I kept telling myself that I was okay, but the potential ramifications of what had just happened kept making their way into my head. I walked away from my accident with a totaled car, but, thankfully, no injuries. I had fallen asleep while driving and ran through 130 feet of fencing. I felt like I was completely awake when I had left the house at seven o’clock that morning, how did I become so tired so fast? Looking back, there were things I should have done to prevent this. I should have turned up the music and rolled down the windows, or I should have stopped the car and walked around for a little bit, but those did not matter now. What did matter was that I was okay. If I crashed any sooner or later, I could have hit a telephone pole and might not be here writing this essay. Although this was a life-threatening situation, it was also a life-changing one. If there is one thing that I have taken away from this, it is the need to advocate for the prevention of drowsy driving.

Driver fatigue is a widely-overlooked danger in the age of technology. Over one in five teens use social media for five or more hours per day, which leads to fewer hours of sleep (“More LOLs, Fewer Zzzs…”). As driving is an activity that requires a great degree of focus and attention, sleep is of the utmost importance to ensure safe driving. This is common sense, though, right? People are much better at doing things when they are well-rested and alert than when they are tired. In spite of this, there were 91 thousand car crashes and 795 deaths attributed to driver fatigue in 2017 (“Drowsy Driving” [NHTSA]). So if people know that they cannot drive well when tired, why is drowsy driving even a problem? The main issue is that most people do not know their limits. They think to themselves, “Oh, I’m not that tired. I can keep driving,” or “I’m almost home, I can make it,” but this is a dangerous way of thinking. Fatigue slows a driver’s reaction time, makes them less attentive, and affects their decision-making skills (“Drowsy Driving” [CDC]). I swerved a few times while telling myself these things before I ultimately crashed; I was only a mile and a half away from my house. Another issue is that many people do not know what to do when they are caught tired and driving. If I would have thought about the ways I could relieve my drowsiness, I might have been able to prevent my car crash altogether. Fatigue at any level can impair driving skills, which is why it is so important to get a good night’s sleep and to pull over when tired. So how can widespread driver fatigue be prevented?

A good way to emphasize the importance of not driving tired is to stress its dangers in driver’s education courses. Plenty of focus is given to the dangers of drunk and distracted driving, which often leaves the dangers of drowsy driving gone unnoticed. I do not remember learning anything about fatigued driving when I took driver’s education, the message needs to resonate with the kids taking the course. Driver’s education is the most critical and influential experience in a person’s relationship with driving because it is one of the first involvements they have with the road and its laws and dangers. The lessons learned in driver’s education are used nearly every day for most people, which cannot be said about many other things. Getting this message in on the ground floor of the next generation’s lifetime of driving would equip them with the information they need to prevent fatigued driving and the tips that could save their lives if they are caught in a situation where they are driving tired. Another way to spread awareness of drowsy driving could be through a public service announcement. A PSA that illustrated the dangers of driving while tired and listed a few ways to prevent or relieve its effects would be a great way to educate drivers on this issue.

Driving tired is dangerous, but it is something that happens all too often. Whether people have somewhere to be early in the morning or late at night, or they just did not get a sufficient amount of sleep the night before, there are going to be tired drivers out there. While they are certainly a hazard to others on the road and to themselves, they cannot be stopped. They have places to be, and life cannot always wait until they get a full eight hours of sleep to drive with the attentiveness and caution that driving demands. That is why it is so crucial to raise awareness about this issue, it affects all drivers. People can choose to not drink or to not be on their phones while driving, but you cannot just choose to not be tired. Fatigued driving may seem like a rather niche area in advocating for drivers’ safety, but it is an important and overlooked issue nevertheless.

Works Cited

“Drowsy Driving.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 21 Mar. 2017, www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/drowsy_driving.html.

“Drowsy Driving.” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drowsy-driving.

Vaughn, Emily. “More LOLs, Fewer Zzzs: Teens May Be Losing Sleep Over Social Media.” NPR, NPR, 22 Oct. 2019, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/22/772415313/more-lols-fewer-zzzs-teens-may-be-losing-sleep-over-social-media.