Let's Talk About Driving Drowsy From Gigs

It’s nothing new under the sun that the tongue holds immense power. We speak and have the power to change people’s minds in either a positive or negative way. This week I want to use mine to talk about driving drowsy.

Driving drowsy is a passionate topic for me because a few years back, I happened to be driving drowsy. I had slept only but one hour the night before and spent the long day busy doing things, then went to a gig doing the very taxing thing of singing live only to drive home more exhausted than I should have been, and it took just one second of me closing my eyes while behind the wheel to have an accident that left bewildering hurt and altered my life in so many ways. How many times can I say that I have driven tired coming from late night gigs in the past with my eyes closing at traffic lights or stops and nothing as immense as this has ever happened. But it only takes one time and you just never know when it will be. 

I can’t even explain to you the mental calisthenics that I have been through ever since and though I survived it without a scratch on my body, I still muster sympathy for the fact that it happened. My car was nearly totaled but I was okay. If anything proved to me the power of faith and that God truly is love, it was the moment that I realized the precious cargo of the woman that he created in me's life was spared.




Thankful that God kept me and I’m still here to talk about my testimony. Unfortunately, it is not the same for many others.

“The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimates that 100,000 police reported crashes each year are caused primarily by drowsy driving and that such crashes result in more than 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary losses" (National Sleep Foundation). The numbers are quite alarming to me. I know that it is said that every 4th car on the road is under the influence but, who would have thought that this number would include being under the influence of tiredness? Be careful when coming home from gigs because after putting all that energy into giving a great performance or any job that requires lots of effort and energy, you just never know what the result could be while driving tired and with drowsiness. Please be safe on those roads. 

Driver fatigue drowsy driving Anti Sleep Alarm System

This week from November 5 to 12th celebrates Drowsy Driving Prevention Week and because this is a subject I am very passionate about, I will dedicate this week’s episode of my radio show Jazz on the JNote to discuss ways to prevent falling asleep behind the wheel while driving because there are many that can spare the lives of those busy people who have no choice but to drive under the influence of exhaustion. 

I will stress that my show is not a talk show. It is jazz based and the music is non-stop. However I will discuss ways to stay alert on the road such as chewing gum, or using your hands free device to have a conversation with a friend among other ways to prevent drowsy driving, while playing songs that stress on these ideas. 

Please tune in this Sunday evening, November 5, 2017 at 7PM EST for Jazz on the Jnote. You can tune in by visiting http://www.theenglishconnectionmedia.com or http://mixlr.com/the-english-connection-media/ to tune in.

It’s not what you do but how it’s done and because we are rational by design, let’s weigh in the decision to drive safely and if you are tired, make the healthy decision of not getting behind the wheel. Have a blessed and wonderful week and please stay safe on the roads. Your life depends on it and so does everybody else who is on the road. 

Blessings! 

Chronicles of an Angry Driver in New York City

Everything is so fast paced in New York City, so it is a pleasure at night when it is you and the road and the skyline and you can just ride without the heavy rush of the never sleeping town.

May Photo Challenge 2017: Skyline

The difference is that during the daytime, you are driving, stop at a red light and don’t let a second of green catch you standing behind it because you will be met with a chorus of beeps. So you start to move as you were prompted to by the cars behind you, and a person wearing all black clothes starts to cross the street in front of you. The latter example is even worse at nighttime when you can hardly see them at all. 

When I took my defensive driving class, the instructor told the class that every 3^rd person on the road is under the influence of something. Whether it is alcohol, drugs, makeup or Snapchat that you decide to stream live while behind the wheel that has your attention, the driver might not see that camouflaged to the color of the pavement walker, or that crazy bicyclist who decides that no traffic law pertains to them. Yeah! I said makeup. Haven't you ever seen someone applying mascara and eyeliner while behind the wheel or using nail polish remover to take an old coat of polish off the nails? 

But then you have the city skyline to provide some extra needed comfort to that vision-zero spot you are in. All those lights keep you abreast and aware; unless you start gazing at the sparkle and decide that at that moment, patience to just enjoy life is more important than rushing through it. As that thought skates through your mind, may I invite you to "Enjoy Life" and sing along with me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alV2ULnr9z8

How could you not see the draped in all black pedestrian when the neon lights kind of color them in as they cross the middle of the street that you might not have seen if it were in a different area? And how could you not stop to simply let them pass without road rage getting the best of you and leading you to want to curse them out because you are in a rush? And how could you not feel like stopping just to appreciate the beauty and to capture the essence of it? Just looking at the skyline transforms a driver and leaves them feeling good. 

Thank God for those lights. Here is hoping for more patience as we cruise on down the thoroughfares of life.