Everyone’s experienced it at some point – not being able to stay awake behind the wheel. You’re on the same highway you take back home every time after a long weekend. You know the drive like the back of your hand, which makes it easy. But then you start to notice yourself yawning nonstop, and you feel your eyelids getting heavy. Our team here at Certified Autoplex is going to share some tips to help stop this dangerous situation in its tracks.

At this point, you realize you probably should have taken that nap you debated about before leaving, but it’s too late now – you’re already on the road. Just when you think you have everything under control, you start to veer into the other lane and catch yourself jerking back into your own. You realize you’ve been driving for a few miles without really processing the distance you’ve made.

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It’s important to acknowledge your current state of mind so you can start to make some changes. Start to look out for the next gas station and plan to stop for some caffeine and a snack. Our team knows eating and driving can be hazardous as well, so we suggest something small, like candy, that you can eat without taking your eyes off the road.

Six Ways To Help Wake Up While Driving –

So you’re back in your car, with your caffeine and snack in tow, ready to hit the road. It’s safe to say just getting something to eat and drink won’t entirely wake you up, so we’ve come up with a few tricks to help keep you awake, attentive and ultimately safer behind the wheel.

1. Set the air conditioning as low as it will go and turn the vents toward you
2. If you prefer fresh air over air conditioning, open all your windows
3. Turn up the music, preferably something upbeat and exciting versus slow and calming
4. Sit up straight – adjust your seat if necessary to drive in an attentive position
5. Put both hands on the steering wheel with a firm grip
6. Don’t use cruise control – this forces you to constantly pay attention to your speed

These are just a few tips to lead to safer, more attentive driving if you’re feeling drowsy behind the wheel. It’s also good to have a driving partner to switch off with and keep a conversation going. If these tricks don’t improve your focus, it may be a good idea to pull over and take a nap before resuming your drive. It’s important to be one hundred percent focused behind the wheel for not only your sake, but the sake of everyone else on the road.

Our team here at Certified Autoplex has spent countless hours putting together blogs that provide our readers with tips and tricks on how to stay safer on the road. We hope that are hard work is paying off by giving drivers the information they need to make our roadways safer overall. More information is available by contacting our team with any questions you may have, and our full inventory can be viewed online.