Texas Defensive Driving and Driving Drowsy

Texas Defensive Driving - Driving Drowsy

A big factor that influences driver performance is the driver’s physical condition, especially drowsiness. Over 30% of Americans admit that they have fallen asleep while driving. Factors that lead to drowsy driving include chronic sleep loss, the use of sedating medications, driving alone, and driving uninterrupted for long periods of time. A combination of these factors greatly increases your risk of an accident. Crashes tend to occur when sleepiness is most pronounced – during the night and in the mid-afternoon. People who are excessively sleepy due to lifestyle factors or an untreated sleep disorder are more likely to have crashes related to excessive daytime sleepiness. They will likely have to take a Texas defensive driving course.In fact, being awake for 18 hours produces impairment equal to having a blood alcohol content of .05, which increases to .10 after being awake for 24 hours.

So who is at risk for drowsy driving? Everyone has the potential to become a drowsy driver and have to take a Texas defensive driving online course. However, there are a few specific at risk-groups: young people, especially males under the age of 26; people who work the night shift or work long hours, including those who work more than 60 hours per week; commercial drivers – at least 50% of all heavy-truck crashes involve fatigue; people with undiagnosed or untreated sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, which has been shown to drastically increase your risk of falling asleep at the wheel; business travelers who spend many hours travelling and could possibly be jet lagged.

Even if you don’t fit into one of these groups, it is likely that you have driven while fatigued, since many people can’t tell if or when they are about to fall asleep. So, if you need to, head over to Easy Texas defensive driving and take a course to learn more.