Most of us make it through the day and evening with at least one cup of coffee. In fact, among coffee drinkers the average coffee consumption in the United States is 3.1 cups of coffee per day. Per capita men drink approximately 1.9 cups per day, whereas women drink an average of 1.4 cups of coffee a day. March was National Caffeine Awareness Week, aimed at increasing productivity while combating our need for caffeine stimuli. When we are tired, there are many things we don’t want to do. But have you ever thought about the things we do when we are tired? How about driving? While it may be natural for many of us, it has been compared to drunk driving when it comes to how dangerous it is.

Get enough sleep… bottom line. Most adults need 7 to 8 hours a night for the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as five hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep nightly. Driving while tired results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. These figures may be the tip of the iceberg, since currently it is difficult to attribute crashes to sleepiness.  According to drowsydriving.org, “According to the National Sleep Foundation’s 2005 Sleep in America poll, 60% of adult drivers – about 168 million people – say they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third, (37% or 103 million people), have actually fallen asleep at the wheel! In fact, of those who have nodded off, 13% say they have done so at least once a month. Four percent – approximately eleven million drivers – admit they have had an accident or near accident because they dozed off or were too tired to drive.”

These statistics are eye-opening and our trusted auto repair shop  cares about your safety in and out of our shop. When you leave our garage, we still care. Our services range from serious repairs to basic oil changes, but no matter what, we want to keep you safe on the road. This may mean preventative maintenance or sharing with you ways to drive safer. We prefer to maintain your vehicle, not fix it. Before you get behind the wheel when tired, just remember that you are putting others at risk. Sleep deprivation increases the risk of a sleep-related crash; the less people sleep, the greater the risk. According to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, people who sleep six to seven hours a night are twice as likely to be involved in such a crash as those sleeping 8 hours or more, while people sleeping less than 5 hours increased their risk four to five times. Life can get busy with work, children, social activities, and so on. Don’t let it increase your risk for an accident. Remember, drowsy driving is unsafe driving.