Drowsy Driving Kills!

If you were injured in a car accident, you might be entitled to compensatory damages from the party who...

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If you were injured in a car accident, you might be entitled to compensatory damages from the party who...

You may be entitled to compensation for injuries caused by another party’s negligence or wrongdoing....

Perhaps you are seeking a work visa or investor visa. Perhaps you want to bring your fiancée, spouse...

When facing serious criminal charges, you need to understand your legal rights and all the potential...

If you have an impairment that prevents you from working, you may be eligible for benefits under Social...

If you were injured in a car accident, you might be entitled to compensatory damages from the party who...

You may be entitled to compensation for injuries caused by another party’s negligence or wrongdoing....

Perhaps you are seeking a work visa or investor visa. Perhaps you want to bring your fiancée, spouse...

When facing serious criminal charges, you need to understand your legal rights and all the potential...

If you have an impairment that prevents you from working, you may be eligible for benefits under Social...

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If you were injured in a car accident, you might be entitled to compensatory damages from the party who...

You may be entitled to compensation for injuries caused by another party’s negligence or wrongdoing....

Perhaps you are seeking a work visa or investor visa. Perhaps you want to bring your fiancée, spouse...

When facing serious criminal charges, you need to understand your legal rights and all the potential...

If you have an impairment that prevents you from working, you may be eligible for benefits under Social...

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Please be sure to follow the tutorial on how to setup the Google APIs required for the Advanced Google Map Widget.

Move over drunk drivers, drowsy drivers can be almost, if not just as deadly but don’t just take our word for it. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drowsy driving claimed a total of 795 lives in 2017.

In today’s hectic world, too many Americans are losing sleep. Whether they’re working full time and getting up with a baby, handling sick kids all night then driving to work in the morning, working late into the night to finish that project at work, struggling with insomnia, or anxiety that keeps them up at night – sleep deprivation is all too common.

We Can Prevent Falling Asleep at the Wheel

People fall asleep at the wheel every day and it can be very scary. In reality, though, there are things that we can do to prevent that from happening. For starters, we need to realize the scope of the problem and understand that fatigue not only affects our health and our mood, but it affects our safety and overall quality of life.

Common causes of fatigue include:

• Waking up with a baby every couple of hours
• Working the night shift at work
• Staying up late watching TV
• Staying out late with friends
• Taking a long drive that lasts for hours
• Having insomnia
• Having a racing mind that won’t shut off

No matter the reason behind fatigue, the negative outcomes are typically the same. When someone is driving while fatigued, they can have a delayed reaction time, impaired performance, impaired cognition, and they can ultimately fall asleep at the wheel.

It can be difficult for motorists to tackle these above issues when they don’t place importance on drowsy driving. A lot of people won’t think twice to drive after not sleeping in 24 hours. To effectively address the issue of drowsy driving, motorists have to shift their focus to getting more sleep to keep themselves and other motorists safe.

Stay Alert Behind the Wheel

Tips to stay alert while driving:

• The first approach is to focus on getting more quality sleep, which is 7 to 8 hours each night.
• Before you take a long road trip, get a good night’s sleep. Otherwise, you put your passengers and other motorists at risk.
• Avoid driving through the night. Instead, rent a motel or hotel room for the night so you get adequate sleep.
• If you have a teenager, realize that many teens stay up late and don’t get enough sleep. Don’t let your teen hit the road if they’re clearly unrested and sleep-deprived.
• Do not drink alcohol before driving. Alcohol only enhances the feelings of sleepiness since it’s a sedative.
• Avoid driving on any prescription or over-the-counter medications that cause drowsiness or sleepiness.
• Try to avoid driving during the peak sleepiness periods, which according to the NHTSA are from 12 AM-6 AM.
• If you get sleepy, drink one to two cups of coffee or have an energy drink and pull over for a 20-minute nap. This NHTSA says that studies have found this practice to help increase alertness.

We hope you found this information about drowsy driving useful. If you were in an accident with a driver who fell asleep at the wheel, please contact The Zen Law Firm to file a claim for compensation.