Sleepy driving

Instead of writing about the intensifying political brawl among the folks who used to be as thick as thieves, I decided to write an article on another problem that has long bedeviled our nation.

For the second time in just a month, I have figured in a road accident. Both times my vehicle was at full stop. Both times, the drivers of the other cars apologized, saying they were sleepy.

Don’t drive while sleepy. Isn’t this plain common sense? Is common sense an alien concept in our land of the comprehension-challenged? Shouldn’t this be as basic a rule as not driving under the influence, or not driving while looking at your cell phone? Would it need a law that imposes specific penalties for reckless endangerment?

If you’re sleepy, you should sleep, not drive. I know diabetic drivers who pull over for a nap when their blood sugar levels make them sleepy.

The Land Transportation Office should impose stiffer penalties on people who drive while sleepy – as stiff as those for driving while drunk or high on drugs. Stringent rules must be implemented for the suspension and revocation of the license of those who drive when they’re not fully awake.

Driving while sleepy could get you killed or injured, and you could kill or injure humans and animals. At the very least, the sleepy driver who figures in an accident is going to cause immense inconvenience, both to himself and the occupant/s of the other vehicle.

The two accidents have certainly caused me supreme inconvenience.

*      *      *

In the first accident, on the night of Nov. 4, I was stopped at a junction near a police checkpoint, waiting to make a turn, when I saw a car on the opposite lane coming at us at full speed. In an instant, it had smashed head-on into my vehicle. I was able to brace myself but my head hit the car window slightly.

His car being smaller (a Honda City, NKA 9898), it was a wreck. My car was badly damaged but remained in running condition. He also hit a motorcycle whose rider flew off the bike and landed on the ground, screaming that he couldn’t move his leg.

My driver jumped out of the car briskly to inspect the damage so I guessed he wasn’t injured. I also got out. The spot was near a barangay hall and an ambulance came around quickly to rush the motorcycle rider to a hospital.

Two EMTs approached me to look at my head, advising me to also undergo a scan for possible concussion. I wasn’t dazed so I asked them to check if there was blood on my head or sign of bruising. When they said no, I checked on the driver of the other vehicle, who had gotten out of his car and was standing, so at least he didn’t seem badly injured.

He apologized and said he felt sleepy after several hours of driving. There was blood in his leg but he said he could walk fine; the airbag had deployed.

Fortunately, the engine and lights of my car weren’t damaged (except for the air conditioning), and I was able to use it until it was sent to the repair shop.

It took over a week before the insurance was processed by Standard Insurance Co., during which I wondered if the engine would hold together or conk out while I was on the road. These insurance firms collect premiums ASAP, but take forever to get the auto repair done.

They told me repairs would take three weeks. Fortunately, the office borrowed a car for two weeks for me, followed by another one last Wednesday.

*      *      *

While driving home in this second borrowed vehicle, just about two kilometers away from the office, the car was rear-ended by yet another sleepyhead.

This time, I blew my top like Sara Duterte raging over her precious chief of staff. I screamed that sleepy people should go to sleep and not drive. Maybe I was more angry than concerned about people’s safety because unlike in the head-on collision, the damage was mild and the driver of the other car – a Toyota Vios (NAK 8622) – didn’t look like he might have suffered a crushed rib cage or fractured leg.

At the police station, the driver was fined a total of P4,000. He paid another P400 for the photos of the damage. He promised to shoulder the repairs through insurance. But now the second borrowed car will also have to be repaired, and my car isn’t fixed yet.

Like the first driver, the sleepyhead now has a driving accident record. I’m not naming him and the driver in the first accident only because both are young; the second is only in his 20s.

They still have long lives ahead of them. It would be a tragic waste if they lost their life in a road accident because they fell asleep at the wheel. It would be doubly tragic if they killed others in the process.

*      *      *

At least there were no major injuries in the two mishaps (the biker turned out to have only a minor finger injury).

Last May, the Department of Health reported that on average, 12,000 people die each year in road mishaps across the country, including car crashes and pedestrians getting hit by speeding vehicles. As of end-October this year, 85,954 road accidents had been recorded nationwide.

In 2011, we lost a colleague, Chit Estella, in a road accident along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City. Chit was in a taxi when it was struck one after the other by two speeding buses.

In the early hours before the start of the wake, I looked at her remains and saw no visible sign of trauma or injury. But internal bleeding in such cases, which don’t manifest on the surface, can be fatal. I knew it was an unspoken reason why the EMTs wanted me to have a brain scan after the head-on collision.

With the holiday season upon us, there will be more motorists driving home while inebriated or tired and sleepy from partying.

Those who aren’t in full control of their faculties could get killed, and they pose a menace to others’ lives and property.

If you’re sleepy, sleep, don’t drive.