Are you spacing in and out of reality behind the wheel? Is your head getting more and more difficult to lift up while driving? Are your eyelids starting to shut themselves on their own? Are you drowsy while driving?

Drowsy driving can be worse than drunk driving. Being drowsy while driving will be your responsibility, when you're on the road. Here's a couple of tips to avoid drowsy driving altogether.

Stop. - If you feel any of the symptoms described above --- you are drowsy --- stop. Pull over to the side of the road and stop driving. Take a little breather --- find a way to get rid of your drowsiness. Find a place to sleep if you really can't pull off driving in your current state.

Include Rest Breaks In Your Planned Drives – If you're taking going to be driving quite a bit, make sure you not only plan where you'll be going, but plan rest breaks along the way. Avoid being drowsy on the road! Take 2-4 hour breaks in-between the places where you have to be.

Take Turns – If you're out with your buddies and your driving gets drowsy, make sure one of them can take over driving. Not only will this guarantee that you won't be driving drowsy, it will keep you and your buddies well rested to enjoy the destination as well.

Make Sure You Know Where You're Going – If you're gonna be driving to a new place, make sure you plot out paths that you're going to take. The frustration of not knowing exactly where to go will add to your overall fatigue --- and may not only make you a drowsy driver, but an irritable one as well.

Sleep! - Sleep! Glorious sleep! One way to avoid drowsy driving is taking a nice long sleep before hitting the road. So when your mom starts waking you up in the morning, you could proudly claim that your being well-rested saves lives!

Tips for safe summer driving and how to avoid drowsy driving can be found at the National Safety Commission.

Labels: driver safety, drowsy driving, safe driving