When Exhaustion Takes the Wheel: The Cost of Fatigued Driving

             My mom was a night shift hospital worker for many years. She worked as a pediatric oncology nurse and absolutely loved her job. Growing up, I remember her dress code of colorful “Dora the Explorer” scrubs and nursing clogs. I would cry as she walked out the front door waving goodbye, night after night. I was in elementary school at the time, and I missed not being able to cuddle with her at bedtime. This was our normal routine, until one morning when everything changed.  

            It was a typical Saturday morning, and we were expecting my mom to get home any minute with a box of delicious donuts for breakfast. Her shift ended at 7:30 am and she would get home between 8:00 and 8:30 am. As the minutes passed, my stomach growled with anticipation while watching Saturday morning cartoons. The clock kept ticking and there was no sign of my mom. My father called her to see if maybe she had been delayed at work, but her phone went straight to voicemail. It was now 10:30 am and I could see the worry in my father’s eyes. He called one of her co-workers to ask if she was working overtime, and her co-worker informed him that they had left work together at 7:30 am. His worried gaze turned to shear panic, and he began to call her cell phone repeatedly and pace around the house. That was the first time I had ever seen my father act this way. His panic frightened me, and I began to cry for my mother to get home. Then suddenly we heard keys jingling and the front door swung wide open. It was mom!

            My mother slowly walked into the house and her face appeared worn and frazzled. She had deep grey bags under her eyes and looked as pale as a ghost. She came over to me and gave me a big hug and apologized for not bringing home donuts. Then she walked to my father and began to sob. When we asked her what was wrong, she sat down and began to recount the morning’s events. She left work at 7:30 am after a long and tedious shift and got into her car to drive home. The hospital where she worked was about 30-40 minutes from our house and after about 10 minutes of driving, she began to feel the exhaustion kick in. She described it as a powerful force that she could not control. Her eyes were heavy despite opening both car windows and having the radio on full blast. She started to blink repeatedly hoping her eyes would not give in to the heaviness. She didn’t realize she had fallen asleep behind the wheel until she felt bumps in the road and was startled awake, only to find that she was mere inches from hitting the center divider on the freeway. She swerved to the right, barely missing the concrete divider and almost hitting the car in the lane next to hers. She immediately exited the freeway and pulled into a residential neighborhood where she began to cry at the realization that she could have almost died. She decided to take a nap in the car so she could drive the rest of the way home safely. This is why she was so late getting home.

            I never realized how dangerous driving while fatigued could be, until that moment. As a society, we put so much emphasis on campaigns to end drunk driving, including the existence of dedicated organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), that we forget driving while fatigued is also a public safety crisis. The statistics surrounding fatigued driving are staggering. Automobile Association of America (AAA) research suggests 17.6%, or approximately 1 in 5 fatal crashes involve drowsy drivers. Being awake for 24 hours straight is equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.10%, which is above the legal limit of 0.08%. A fatigued driver may be harder to recognize than a drunk driver, making fatigued driving more difficult to prevent. Both are deadly, but fatigued driving is far more common, severely underreported, and can impair drivers as much as alcohol. Drunk driving causes more documented fatalities, but the evidence demonstrates that the effects of fatigued driving cannot be ignored because so many drivers underestimate their impairment. Some strategies to prevent this in the future include incorporating fatigued driving education in standard driver's education courses, instituting stiff penalties for individuals caught driving while fatigued, and creating televised public service announcements to bring awareness of the statistics surrounding fatigued driving. These efforts are essential to bringing community awareness and saving lives. 

            Soon after that harrowing experience, my mother decided to switch to a day shift position. The memory of that event haunts me to this day, especially now that I am a driver myself. I make a conscious effort to get a good night’s sleep and not drive when I am overly tired or drowsy. I have shared my mother’s story with others in hopes that it will deter them from driving while fatigued. My mother’s experience taught me never to underestimate the power of exhaustion, and I am a better driver because of it.