You’ve heard of sleepwalking, but you might not have heard of sleep-driving. It’s a real thing, albeit a rare one.
Driving in your sleep is a form of parasomnia like sleepwalking or talking in your sleep. Yet it is far more dangerous.
While some people are naturally prone to sleep-driving, others are at risk of it due to the medication they take to help them sleep. Eszopiclone, zaleplon, and zolpidem are three prescription medicines that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has highlighted as being potentially dangerous in this way.
You do not need to be asleep completely to pose a danger on the roads
Sleep driving is the extreme end of the scale. Yet, sleep or a lack of it leads to many crashes in other ways.
Anyone feeling sleepy will be less alert. Think about the brain fog you get at the end of a long day at work. You might say something like, “I’m too tired to think straight.”
Thinking straight is crucial to safe driving. You need to process information and make correct decisions quickly and constantly.
People can be too tired to drive safely for many reasons. For example, they stayed up late, were woken early by a barking dog, worked too hard, or took antihistamine medications for insect bites or allergies.
You know when you feel drowsy, and so does every other driver out there. Anyone that chooses to continue driving when they feel tired puts themselves and others at risk. If a sleepy driver injures you, you need to know how to hold them responsible.