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.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

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.