Driving under the influence of exhaustion

I know I've been guilty of being tired behind the wheel on a few occasions. There's nothing scarier than the head-drop that occurs while behind the wheel, causing you to instantly wake up in a panic.

And it seems as though I'm far from being the only tired driver on the road. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than 32 million people admit to have actually fallen asleep at the wheel within the past year. Estimates as high as 100,000 reflect the number of crashes that occur in the U.S. as a result of sleep-related driving, killing more than 1,500 people annually.

So, the next time your eyelids start to get heavy while driving, don't try to soldier through the state of drowsiness. Instead, pull off the road and take a short break; it can sometimes mean the difference between a safe ride home and a terrible accident.