How to Stay Awake While Driving Late at Night

More automobile accidents that occur worldwide each year are related drowsiness than to alcohol consumption.  If you have no choice but to drive late at night, here are some tips to stay awake.

Open the windows and let the wind blow through the car.  If the weather is too bad, adjust the air conditioning to cold and turn it on full blast.  If anyone in the car complains about being too cold, point the closest vents towards the driver and close the rest.  Ask them to cover up with something or if they are old enough and wide awake; let them take a turn driving.

Turn on some loud music.  Don’t choose soft piano music or talk radio.  Find some heavy-hitting rock and roll; something that you will want to sing along with.  Keep the beat on the steering wheel so that your body keeps moving.

If you are fortunate enough to have passengers in the car, do not let them sleep, but instead have them talk to you or play some travel games that require you to stay alert but nothing that distracts you from watching the road.

Shake your head every now and then and scream out loud.  Try drinking drinks that contain caffeine, like coffee or sodas.  If you still feel tired, find somewhere to pull over.  Get out of the car and do some exercises, like jumping jacks to increase your heart rate.  If you can find somewhere that is open late at night, go inside and splash some cold water on your face.  Buy a fountain drink with ice.  Keep a piece of ice in your mouth until it melts and then replace it with another.

Telecommuting: Bringing the Work Back Home

The Industrial Revolution brought people out of cottage industries and into the public workplace. Years of long commutes back and forth to work and the stresses of dealing with heavy traffic and with strange office politics have left much of the workforce in search of a well-deserved break. Many people have discovered a path back to their cottages. They are the telecommuters.

In recent history, technology has opened a door of opportunity to employees that allows them to work from home. These employees are evolving into telecommuters. Modern communications technology and a drastic improvement in computer capabilities now allow workers to perform their jobs from home instead of requiring them to commute to and from the workplace.  In years past, if someone wasn't working from home, it meant that they didn't have a home and they were typically labeled a nomad. As time went by and people began congregating in centralized locations to perform their work duties, the idea of working from home became synonymous with being a nomad. It was even rumored that a person working from their home would likely wander from job to job. In present times, it seems that history is repeating itself and workers are making their way back home. (Whitford, 44)

A telecommuter, or "distance worker", as they are often called, is an employee who opens a channel between their place of work and their home to conduct business away from the office. (Wiscombe, 18) This channel may be a telephone line with a modem, a cable line with a broadband modem, or even a T1 line. Using this channel, an employee gains access to files on their computer and other company resources including, but not limited to, internal company servers and mainframes. Some businesses even offer a connection to their servers through a secure website on the Internet. There are many other contributors to the increase in telecommuting. Rick Howell, the vice president of human resources for The Heathman Group, a Portland Oregon based chain of hotels and restaurants, says, "The Internet has certainly helped speed things along, but there are many other forces driving the trend toward telecommuting. Email is a big factor and cell phones, laptops, fax machines, and wide area networks play a big part, too." (Whitford, 44)

Making Your Car Safe for Children

Your children are precious and you go to great lengths to make your home safe for them. Don't forget about making your car safe too.
Inspect your car, both inside and out on a weekly basis. Follow all routine maintenance schedules for your car as advised by the manufacturer, including oil changes, and tire rotations. Keep your state vehicle inspection up-to-date. Check the tread on your tires and also check the tire pressure regularly. Look for puddles under the car that may be indicators of serious problems. A puddle of water from the A/C is normal, but a puddle of oil or transmission fluid is not. While you are spending some quality time with your car, go ahead and wash it and clean all of the windows to provide maximum visibility.
 

Remove or secure loose objects in the car. In the event of a wreck or roll-over, loose objects will become projectiles and can seriously injure you and your children. This includes toys, tools, mp3 players, and anything that would hurt if thrown at your face with force. All of these things can either be stored in the glove box or in the trunk.
 
Have your car checked immediately if it begins to handle differently or make any strange noises. Extreme heat and cold are hazardous conditions for young children. Always crank your car several minutes prior to letting your children get in and let the temperature adjust to a comfortable level. Check all metal belt buckles and wait until they are cool to the touch before allowing your children to come in contact with them. Do not, under any circumstances, leave your child unattended in the car for any length of time!

Buy a new car seat or booster seat from a retail store. It's perfectly acceptable to buy second-hand clothes and toys for your child from a consignment sale, but car seats are constantly being recalled for safety issues. You don't have to buy the most expensive seat available, but if you buy a used one, you have no information about the history of the seat or whether it has been involved in a crash. Read the instructions for the new seat and install it to the best of your ability. Then, before placing your child in the seat, drive to the nearest fire station and ask if one of their "car seat certified installers" will give your seat a proper inspection. Keep all instruction manuals that came with the seat and check periodically for recall notices from the manufacturer. Many manufacturers will now let you register the seat and they will send an email alert to you if a recall is issued.

Talk to your children about being safe while riding in and exiting the car. Don’t allow fighting or yelling or anything that is distracting to the driver of the vehicle. Buckle your children’s safety belts or harnesses the moment they get into the car and do not let them unbuckle themselves until they are exiting the car. This may sound extreme, but there is a possibility that another car could impact your car, even while you are parked, and if your children are not buckled, they could sustain bad injuries. If you parallel park your car, tell your children to stay in the car and then let them exit on the side opposite the street. Do not allow children to run around in parking lots or parking garages!

Practice safe driving habits and make good choices. Always drive at or under the speed limit and constantly check your mirrors. If you identify a bad driver approaching you, do everything that you can to allow them to pass you and go on their way. Avoid causing or participating in road rage. Don’t speed up to try and make it through yellow traffic lights. Always leave early enough to make it to your destination on-time without driving fast. If you are going to be late, then just be late. If you cause an accident and hurt your children because you were in too much of a hurry, you will look back and wish you had just taken your time, so always think proactively in order to avoid all of that. If you will be driving with your children in the car at any point in a given evening, don’t drink alcohol at all!

Evaluate the cars of anyone else who will transport your child. Give them a safety checklist and see that they follow it. As a parent, it is your responsibility to keep your children safe, regardless of other people’s opinions or bad habits. If someone else’s vehicle or driving habits are unsafe for your children, do not let them ride with that person, regardless of what they say or whether it hurts their feelings. If this person loves and respects your children, they will make the effort to keep them safe too.

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How to Travel to Myrtle Beach, SC from Charlotte, NC

It's time to leave for that much anticipated trip to Myrtle Beach, SC. Your family and friends are all packed and ready to go. You begin your journey from Charlotte, North Carolina. What is the safest and fastest route to Myrtle Beach SC from Charlotte? There are so many ways to go, but which one is the best?

Take I77 south towards Columbia. You will pass Carowinds, Tega Cay, Rock Hill, SC and two rest areas. Take the exit for Highway 9, which is located just after the second rest area. At the top of the exit ramp, take a left, which will direct you onto Highway 9 south towards Lancaster.

Stay on Highway 9 bypass and then take Highway 903. Travel on Highway 903 until you get to the city of Mcbee, where you will find Highway 151. Watch your speed through Mcbee. The limit drops to 25mph and the police are very aggressive against beach travelers who speed through their town.

Take Highway 151 south towards Darlington which runs into Highway 52. When you reach Darlington, take Interstate 95 north and then the Highway 327 bypass, which runs into 76/301. This will eventually turn into Highway 501. If you are going to Myrtle Beach, Highway 501 will run straight to the beach. If you are going to North Myrtle Beach, take the exit for Highway 22. This will take you straight to the outlet mall in North Myrtle. From there, take Highway 17 north to continue to North Myrtle Beach.

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How to Remember to Remove Your Baby from the Car

I am heartbroken each time I watch the news and learn that another parent has forgotten their baby in the car and returned to find that something horrible has happened. I will be a parent soon and these are the things that keep me awake at night. After careful thought, I would like to offer some free and relatively easy solutions that may help new parents to overcome unexpected diversions that too often direct your attention away from your baby.

Develop a new routine to always check the back seat of a vehicle before you leave it, whether it is yours or not. Another important thing to do when you approach a vehicle is to look completely around it for hidden obstructions like children or toys. When you reach your destination and exit the vehicle, immediately open the back door and look into the back seat. Do this whether you know that you have your baby in the car or not. It is imperative that this becomes a habit for both parents and for anyone who will ever transport your child. If you are certain that you dropped the child off at the daycare or if you know that today is not your day to drive them, remember... making a careless mistake on the wrong day has needlessly cost the lives of too many young children.

If you are an employer, you have the ability and should make it a priority to watch after employees who transport young children prior to coming to work. Designate several rows of parking spaces for parents only. Have a few people routinely walk through the parking lot each morning to check those cars for forgotten children. This is a perfect job for security guards whose job is to patrol the parking lot anyway. Offer them an incentive to perform these checks. Also, post signs in the entrance of your building with a reminder about leaving small children in vehicles unattended.

Become better acquainted with your co-workers and develop a habit of asking other parents of young children how their children were doing this morning and what color shirt did their teacher have on this morning. Just that type of reminder may cause a person to remember that they never actually dropped the child off. Pay attention to small details. When you walk into the building from the parking lot, keep an eye out for car seats and casually look into cars as you walk past.

For the parents of small children who take them to daycare daily, be sure that your daycare has a list of emergency numbers, including several work numbers. Ask that they call each number and let someone know if you have not dropped your child off with them after a certain time. Check your cell phone each morning after arriving at work to be sure nobody has left messages for you. If you use Microsoft Outlook, set daily reminders asking whether you remembered your child. If you carry a briefcase with you to work, always put it in the back seat in the floor beside your child's car seat. That way, you will have to open the back door to retrieve it and you may discover an important surprise when you least expect it.

Hopefully, some of these tips will help parents to remember what is most important. If work becomes too stressful and you have difficulty focusing on the things that you are supposed to do, stop for a moment. Take a deep breath. Exhale slowly and ask yourself, "Why am I at work?" Your most obvious response is "to make money." Why do you need money? To take care of your family because they are important to you. Do not forget this! Take an extra 10 seconds out of your hectic morning commute to simply check the back seat of your car!

If you are a parent and you are reading this article at work, stop what you are doing and go check your car. Do it right now! Tell your boss that you need a breath of fresh air. If this article helps save just one child, then it will be the most important thing I've ever written for this website.


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