I made it home from San Diego yesterday in 1.5 hours, which is pretty darn fast, but it felt rather dangerous because I was so tired from the night before. I didn't feel bad when I left, but once I was on the road I started getting that out-of-body-experience thing going and I knew I only had three options.
I could pull over and take a nap... ha, but seriously. So I had two options: I wasn't sure if I should drive faster to get home before the fatigue could hit me hard, or if I should drive slower so as to minimize the chance of a serious accident. What do you think?
There's nothing wrong with stopping to take a nap. I do it all the time. Park in a large, crowded motel parking lot, facing away from the front office, and you can catch a nice, safe, and undisturbed hour or two of half-reclined rest.
I've made a few long, sleepy drives that I was lucky to survive. One experience in particular changed my thinking about this question. I arrived in L.A. around 9am, collapsed on my patient brother's couch for five incoherent and fevered hours, then awoke with essentially no memory of the last 200 miles of my solo drive. When I thought of the damage I could have done to myself or, even worse, to someone else, I couldn't help but feel lucky, stupid, and ashamed in a way that I had not known before. I almost felt as though I had actually done the worst damage I could imagine, because my actions created such a potential and yet I did absolutely nothing to prevent the worst. My negligence was as despicable as if the worst had happened.
I don't drink alcohol in general because I tell myself that I value personal responsibility very highly, but I have come to think that driving while extremely fatigued is as irresponsible, contemptible, and dangerous as driving while drunk. Don't do it. Don't put yourself in a position where it might later seem necessary or even reasonable. Think ahead.
I tend to drive faster under those conditions, myself. I'm not sure it's a wise strategy, but it's worked so far...
Pull over and take a nap. There are no other reasonable options, except maybe driving REALLY slowly. Any speed that is acceptable on the freeway is too fast for a "safe" accident.
I've found that when this happens to me, a 10-15 minute nap is plenty.
I have to agree with Xrlq. Pull over and take the nap ... seriously. Your driving speed will not make much of a difference once you cross lanes into on-coming traffic or flip over into the ubiquitous unmoveable object while your eyes were closed.
Don't be a York. Getting home after a 15-30 min. nap still means getting home without killing someone else.
Gone! They're all gone!
Call me a fraidy-cat girly-girl, but I've always been too damned nervous to see taking a nap as a viable option. I'm just not comfortable being lone-female-asleep-in-a-car at some gas station or rest stop. Selfish? Possibly, but I don't really care. Wouldn't get a nap worth speaking of under those conditions, anyway.
I'll get out of the car and do jumping jacks or something, though. Getting the blood flowing again will make you more alert for a little while.
Afraid I must be missing something. If you are that tired, get a $50 motel room and get some sleep.
You would rather risk your own and other people's lives? $50 is not that much
At this point in my life, Harold, I could come up with 50 bucks. At the point when I was still making drives I probably shouldn't have been making, there was no way short of robbing the frigging gas station I could come up with 50 bucks. Reality's a bitch like that.
When in doubt, remember the immortal words of Captain (later Admiral) James T. Kirk: "Mr Sulu, Warp Speed Factor 4."
Deb: Then you shouldn't be driving - period! I could really care less if you are going to endanger your own life but when you endanger mine or my family's, I have a real problem with it!
Michael: Always pull over and take a quick nap or roll down the window, turn the radio up and sing along at the top of your lungs but driving while tired IS as bad as driving drunk.
i have an idea of which iam trying to make up a prottype but as some of you might now it cost a lot of money to get your idea from the design stage through prototype and then on to a paton. does anyone now were i can get some financial help from because this idea will stop people from falling asleep at the wheel and save lives
can you help please