You’ve got a sixteen-hour road trip, it’s three in the morning, and you’re only halfway there. What should you do? Well, the best answer would be to pull over and get some sleep — either at a hotel or at a safe location in your car. Why is this? Basically, depriving our bodies of sleep can cause drastic consequences. When we sleep, our body enters a restorative state that heals damaged and tired nerves and cells that make up our bodies. By forcing our bodies to stay awake, we are preventing our bodies from doing this: this is something that should be avoided at all costs. Here are some of the main reasons why you should never drive tired.

Decreased Reaction Time

One of the most obvious reasons to not drive sleepy-eyed, when we are tired our reaction time is decreased dramatically. A car stops in front of you a hundred feet away? A deer runs across the road and stares at you? When you are tired, your chances of avoiding hazards like this decrease immensely. The neurons and electric responses throughout your brain and body are severely reduced when tired, allowing a sudden stop or swerve to come later than your body would like it to happen. Some compare driving while tired to driving under the influence of alcohol or other drugs: the number of car accidents increases with both of them.

Poor Decision Making

A major lack of sleep can affect your behavior, how you perceive your surroundings, and the actions that you take while driving. If a car cuts you off in the middle of the afternoon, yes you might be upset, but you will most likely continue on your way to work. At night, however, your irrational thinking and deprived state could lead to tailgating or worse. Also, if you miss an exit or a wrong turn, trying to correct the problem in a fast manner while sleep-deprived can lead to accidents. Want to be safer on or around the road? Reach out to the safety professionals at http://otwsafety.com today.

No Sunlight

Truckers, pilots, and other long-distance drivers report that some of the hardest times to travel are in the late hours of the night (around midnight to three in the morning). Why is this? Well, at this time period, there is no sunlight outside and the temperature is most likely cooler. The body of human beings is programmed to wake up with sunlight and warming temperatures: this means a lack of both makes our bodies want to go to sleep.