How to Stay Awake and Alert for a Safe Road Trip

The great American road trip - a tradition almost as old as the automobile. While automobile technology has advanced by leaps and bounds the human element has become the weak link more than ever. In order to drive safely you must stay alert but that is often the difficult part. The key to staying alert is preventing fatigue. Most of the steps in this guide will help you prevent fatigue which will allow you to stay alert and complete your road trip safely.

Get enough sleep before and during your road trip

As simple as it sounds, getting enough sleep is absolutely the most important tip. If you don't get enough sleep before and during your road trip you will have an uphill battle the entire way.

Oddly enough it seems that New Zealand is one of the main producers of driver fatigue studies. According to their report, as little as two hours of lost sleep can have a profound affect on your reaction time, mental function, and alertness. Over time you can even develop a sleep debt which eventually will cause your brain to go into micro sleep. This may only last a second but that is about a hundred feet at highway speeds.

Of course it is easy to fall into this trap. Before the trip there is a laundry list of things to do such as pack, plan your route, close up the house, etc. Along the way you will surely encounter delays and may not allow enough time to wind down when you do stop for rest. All of this can easily eat away at your sleep leaving you to start with a sleep debt.

Plan Your Schedule Well

Your plan for a safe road trip should include a schedule that keeps you from getting too fatigued. As you know, fatigue is the enemy of alertness. Your schedule should not be too ambitious with built in breaks.

Federal regulations, 49 CFR Part 395, limits professional bus drivers to a maximum of ten hours a day following eight hours of being off duty. Keep in mind that these are professional drivers so they are used to driving all the time. They have these rules for a single reason- safety. There is no reason to think you will perform any better than a professional driver.

The National Motorist Association's website states that the average speed of traffic is 68 mph which means you should still be able to cover 600-700 miles a day while using federal regulations as a guideline. Of course your actual progress will be determined by road and weather conditions.

So the key here is plan for each day of your road trip to cover 600 - 700 miles. If you try for more, you are risking alertness and safety. Also try and plan on making a stop every two or three hours to take a break. You will probably be able to do this naturally with fuel stops, lunch, switching drivers, etc.

Stay stimulated but not distracted

Distracted drivers have gathered quite a bit of press lately so we all know the dangers here. Modern electronics and wider network coverage means that drivers now have all sorts of things to do other than drive. While talking, texting, watching videos, or playing games will certainly keep you awake, those activities may not do very well at keeping you alive. Don't try and go on a long road trip distracted.

Of course you do want to make sure your mind is stimulated so it can stay alert. Conversation with passengers, music, even a scenic route will all do a good job of helping you stay awake. Keep in mind that none of these are replacements for sleep.

Watch what you eat and drink

Alcohol obviously should be avoided in order to have a safe road trip. But watch out for other food and drink that may affect your alertness and potentially compromise safety. Over the counter medications are one of the biggest culprits. Ideally you don't want to take any medication unless you are familiar with how it affects your alertness and driving skills. If you must take a new medication, be sure to read the label and ask a pharmacist for assistance if necessary.

Avoid large meals. You may want to fill up your tummy while you're filling up the tank to save time but like Thanksgiving dinner, this may leave you drowsy. Instead eat smaller meals and grab a few snacks to eat on the way. Just make sure the snack you choose can safely be eaten while you drive. Avoid snacks that are greasy, easy to spill, need more than one hand or are just plan complicated.

This section wouldn't be complete without mentioning coffee or other caffeinated beverages. Yes they may make you feel more alert and even help in the short term but they still aren't a replacement for sleep. New Zealand's study showed that caffeine is most effective when consumption was followed by a twenty minute nap.

How to stay alert once fatigue sets in

Once you start feeling drowsy and notice it is difficult to stay alert the best thing to do is stop driving. At this point the safety of your road trip is already at risk. Unfortunately that isn't always possible, what if you still have an hour or two before you get to the hotel or your destination? What if you are in the middle of nowhere?

If you have another driver with the easy thing would be to make another switch. You may need to switch often to keep both of you alert.

If you are alone, consider taking a nap. A quick twenty minute nap can do wonders for your alertness and should allow you to continue your road trip safely for at least a little longer.

You'll often hear other tricks such as opening all the windows, turning the radio up, adjusting the temperature to make it really cold. Unfortunately most of these options turn out to be more of a distraction that helpful. If you think you need to resort to extreme measures, pull it over for the sake of all of us.

Sources

New Zealand Transport Agency, http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/
National Motorists Association, http://www.motorists.org/
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/