This post brought to you by InsuranceHunter. All opinions are 100% mine.
When my husband and I planned our long road trip to Florida (6,000 KM), we agreed that we will share the driving to avoid driver’s fatigue! But it turned out that my husband didn’t enjoy my driving skills: too slow and too many stops!! To tell the truth, I don’t like driving long distances and especially in places I don’t know! I feel so uncomfortable so I drive at a very low speed.
My husband ended up driving 80% of the trip! I didn’t mind but I made sure that we stopped on a regular basis! I pretended I wanted to go to the bathroom so he had no choice but to stop! It annoyed him at first but it was a great way for him to relax and avoid driver’s fatigue!
Drivers shouldn’t drive while tired! They should stop, even take a 15 minutes nap! Driving while tired is as dangerous as driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs. It’s dangerous! Please don’t do it!
Disturbing results of the Insurance Hunter’s safety survey
According to Insurance Hunter’s safety survey, young parents are more likely to drive tired than older counterparts. I totally agree with these results. When we planned our long road trip, we had to take care of all the kids needs: toys, clothes, food, suitcases. We started our road trip tired. If the kids were older, they would have helped us more!
The survey found that motorists have continued to drive when tired, leading them to nod off behind the wheel. It also found that: :
- 72% of Dads will do most of the driving during family road trips. (My husband is one of them)
- 64% of Dads will not stop when they are tired compared to 58% of moms! I do understand they want to arrive quickly to their destination. Traveling with kids isn’t easy! We don’t want them to get bored and we don’t want to hear the famous question: Are we there yet? But driving while tired may lead to nodding off behind the wheel.
- So it’s not astonishing when the study found out that 30% of men have nodded off behind the wheel (compared to 14% of women) leading to dangerous situations.
- 17% of men said they hoped they wouldn’t get into an accident and kept driving even though they were exhausted! I am sure that those dads had good intentions but they seem to forget that fatigue is as dangerous as driving while impaired by alcohol.
These results are quite disturbing! When planning a road trip 94% of parents said it is important to pack enough snacks for the kids but only 75 % set off on their road trips at smart travel times: Between 6 a.m. and noon! It means that 25% of families don’t drive at smart times: during the night. Many parents want to drive by night because the kids will sleep in the car. It means less stops and less whining but it also means risks of nodding off behind the wheel!
About the Insurance Hunter safety survey:
The Neglected Driver Survey, is an online study of 1,003 Ontario parents with children under the age of 12 who take family road trips, was hosted on the Angus Reid Forum on behalf of InsuranceHunter.ca.
Read and Share with your friends
I encourage you to read the detailed results on Insurance Hunter Website! I also encourage you to share these results with all the parents you know! They may change their habits! While you are browsing the results, take an auto insurance quote and compare it to your current rate.
We do a lot of road trips and I’d say my husband and I usually split the driving fairly evenly, because we both enjoy driving. However, we’ve had trips where my husband was VERY tired so I ended up doing most of the driving because he was falling asleep at the wheel. He’s getting better about pulling over when tired or asking me to drive, but I’ve nagged him about it for a while – even told him that I will not sleep in the vehicle while he’s driving because I can’t trust him to stay awake. We get up early (6 am) to hit the road and drive during the day and have never started travelling at night (though a few times we’ve been on the road later than we expected).
On a roadtrip from NE to TX, we drove while tired. Stupidest thing we’ve ever done! So not worth it.
Oh how scary… I’ve been in a fatal car crash so I know exactly how awful it can be. Safety first people! If you’re sleepy, stop. Always buckle up, and watch for the crazy drivers…
I have driven tired before and I try to stop at least every hour and a half to stretch. A good travelers tip is to not bring drinks with you or, if you do, put them in the trunk. That way you have to stop to get a beverage whether at a rest stop convenient store or the trunk of your vehicle – it helps break up the drive and gets you out of the car. Safety first. :)
Great post! It is so dangerous to drive while tired. There have been many times that I have pulled off the road for a quick cat nap, bathroom break and to walk around. Helps keep me from falling asleep behind the wheel!
too funny…my husband doesnt like my driving skills either. I think he is just too much of a control freak to give up the wheel. Thanks for this info though, it is something every driver should keep in mind.