Driving while tired

Ashore, Summer, 2003 by Matthew Dodge

This was one of the happiest drives I ever had made; I was driving back to school from Ohio to graduate after four long years of work. I looked forward to all the festivities of graduation week and all the parties with friends and family. I had made this trip a hundred times--for every holiday break and on many weekends to see my girlfriend at her college in the northeast part of the state. This time was a little different, though.

My typical routine for the drive home was to wake up at 0700, then gather a full cooler of Mountain Dew, some good music, and lots of snacks to make it through the 7.5-hour ride back to school. This schedule usually allowed plenty of time to get back for the 1800 formation. It always was a nice daytime drive with very few hiccups.

To start with, formation was set for noon on the day of return. I originally had planned to leave at 1600 on the day before the return date. I changed my mind, though, and decided to get some sleep, then leave at 0300.

By the time I finally got everything packed up, it was about 0330, and I was feeling wide awake. The trip was going very well; traffic was light, and I was making excellent time. I didn't feel tired. All I had to do was make it till daylight, and I would be fine for the rest of the way--or, so I thought.

At 0900, I just had passed through Cumberland, Md.--about 2.5 hours away from school. The sun had come up, and I was feeling pretty good about my trip. I had the radio on full blast to help me stay awake. Those thoughts were my last until I woke up, staring at the side of a hill. I had fallen asleep, cut across the slow lane of traffic, and run off the right side of the road. The only thing that saved me from running into the side of the hill was the rumble strips on the edge of the road--they awakened me. I ended up popping both tires on the right side of my car and had some serious marks on the front where I had run over three road reflectors.

Needless to say, I was late getting back to school anyway because it took six hours in Cumberland to get new tires on my car. The whole thing cost me close to $1,000 and a lot of unnecessary stress.

What did I learn from this experience? When I'm driving and grow even a little bit tired, I pull over to the side of the road and step outside for some fresh air, or I take a little nap to rejuvenate. I also drive during normal waking hours so my natural sleep cycle isn't interrupted.

Sometimes, caffeine, snacks and music only go so far, and you have to listen to what your body is telling you. I was lucky that I did only minor damage. I could have run into another car, caused a major accident, and maybe even killed someone. I never will forget this experience, and I hope it teaches others the dangers of driving tired.