Everyone hears about impaired driving when they first go through driving classes. We are all told not to drink and drive, how we should not use our phones while on the road, and instructed not to take any type of drugs before getting behind the wheel. However, there is one type of impairment that I feel isn’t talked about enough, and this is one that is probably most deadly. This is fatigue. Fatigue is the most dangerous impairment of driving because of its under representation in Drivers ED and media, the distraction caused by it, and altered reflexes, which hinder a driver to respond correctly to a situation. 

First of all, let’s discuss the fact of under representation. I came to this conclusion about three years ago, when I was taking drivers education classes myself. During that class, I only remember one mention of fatigue and its impact on driving. Even though it was small, it stuck with me. The words my instructor said on the topic were, “when someone drives tired, it is just as bad as drinking and driving.” 

That got me to think. If being tired is as bad as being mentally incapacitated, why isn't it talked about enough? Why do some people sometimes drive hours upon hours without stopping once? Why is this not acknowledged in the media and even in Drivers ED classes, such as the one I was taking at the time? 

Well, I’m not sure of the answer to that, but I am sure about one thing related to it. And that is the fact that fatigue is one of the most common reasons for impairment, and most people don’t realize it. We always hear about drunk drivers, or people who cause accidents because of some drug they were taking beforehand. However, I don’t recall ever hearing about an accident caused because the driver was fatigued. This is just one reason this is such a large impairment, because people are uneducated about it, and don’t understand the impact this can have on their driving.

The next point I’d like to make is about how exhaustion shows on the road. One way it does this by causing distraction. When we’re tired, it’s not easy to pay attention to the things going on around us. I’m sure we’ve all had those days when we’re sitting in  class or at work, and are so tired that it’s hard to focus. This is the same thing with driving. The thing is, this could be life threatening. If we drive tired, and lose focus for even a second, something could happen. Cars could cut us off, there could be someone speeding up, or breaking, in front of us. We could even start drifting off the road! This could be detrimental if we don’t notice these things as we’re driving, and even a small mistake could cause a fatal accident. This is why driving alert is so important. When tired, we tend to miss these things till the very last second, which is why it’s so important not to drive when overtired.

Lastly, fatigue causes reflexes to be altered. If something does happen, such as a car cutting in front of you, or someone slamming on their brakes, it’s hard to react quickly. This makes it hard to respond correctly to dangerous or life threatening situations. This causes more accidents, and more fatalities, even more so if we’re not in the head space to respond the way we should during a situation. As my driving instructor said, fatigue is just as bad as drugs or alcohol. The two are connected with similarities and symptoms to being tired. One of these is a lowered response to situations. People high on drugs experience a similar slow reaction as someone with fatigue does. A person who is intoxicated also has a different response to dangerous situations than a normal person does driving. These reflexes, and their impairments, highlight how important it is not to be fatigued while on the road.

In conclusion, fatigue is the most dangerous impairment of driving because of its under representation in Drivers ED and media, the distraction caused by it, and altered reflexes, which lead to more accidents. All of these things play a factor into why this is one of the worst impairments, as well as the most common, a driver can have. Awareness needs to be spread, and fatigue’s effects on driving should be more known, then we can prevent horrible things from happening in the future.