WWYD - driving tired

[singme]

Not an AIBU as such as I don't think I was unreasonable but I wonder if anyone has any thoughts on this.

Used to drive lots but now work close to home so don't do nearly as much driving these days.

Last night I went for dinner with friends in a city 1hr 20mins from home. Didn't touch a drop of alcohol, went to their house to pick up my car and had a cup of tea, it got quite late, 11pm so not hugely late! I decided to make tracks so left to go home. Felt wide awake at this point. Got some sweets for the car but not coffee.

Got on the motorway and there was a huge diversion. Think I missed one of the signs and got really lost. Pulled over a couple of times to check maps. By the time I put myself right had been driving for about 1 hour.....

Got back on the motorway with 55 mins to go until home and just felt....awful. Eyes were glazing over and just didn't feel safe. Found a garage and got a coffee. Thought about having a nap but then didn't want to wake up at 2am and still have to drive home! So I found a Travelodge and checked in.

Would you have done this with only 50 mins to go? I think it was the safest option but what if I couldn't have afforded it? What's wrong with me that I can't even drive a shortish distance at midnight? Any tips? Or just put it down to circumstance and I did the safest thing?!

You absolutely did the right thing.

I wouldn't want to spend the money on a room, so I would sleep for an hour in a well-lit car park (ideally near the entrance to a service station or similar), then Diet Coke, chocolate, cold water, cold air and on my way.

Totally right thing.

A relative of mine used to do a lot of driving. Many years ago he was driving home in the inside lane at 3am having had a very busy day of mostly driving and thinking "Isn't the human body amazing. I've been driving now for nearly 10 hours and got up 20 hours ago. You'd think I'd been feeling tired and I'm not even slightly tired."
The next thing he knew he was in the central reservation with the car somewhat dented. He'd fallen asleep and drifted across three lanes. Luckily there was no one else around, so he pulled off at the next exit and slept in the car until morning.
He never did anything so stupid again, probably the most careful person I know about stopping.

I nearly did the same last year as the OP. I'd taken the dc to an event they were performing in, leaving at 4am. We left the site at 6pm; I'd had a sleep in the car during the afternoon, so thought I'd be okay.
It was dark and then started to rain really heavily. Motorway was very heavy traffic, but that sort of heavy traffic where it's like a queue all travelling at 70mph. No street lights, and not a place I know.
I realised that I was not going to be able to take this conditions for very long at all.
I pulled over at a services with the dc, had a drink, but unfortunately they didn't have a travel lodge.
I checked the map to see if there was one nearby, and could see one a few junctions down, so decided to get there. However by the time I was back on the road, the rain had stopped, and the traffic had eased massively and then there were lights within a couple of miles, so all those were eased, and I judged we could carry on, which we did safely.

We were around about an hour from home but I would have stopped if conditions hadn't changed and I would have felt no guilt about it.

I checked into a hotel an hour from home once because I felt ill. I got the best night's sleep. Best £100 I ever spent!

I do loads of night driving. Don't drink caffeine so I keep fruit tea bags with me. Windows down and singin something cheesy can buy me a couple of hours more. If all else fails I pull into somewhere safe and have a disco nap.

If you didn't feel safe, you were right to stop.

You did exactly the right thing.

I'm also a night shift worker, have heard many scary stories from my colleagues dropping off at the wheel momentarily and some have quite some distance to get home. I'm a new driver so am usually in a state of anxious alertness when I step into the car, I open the window a bit and put on some upbeat music when driving home after shift. You did the right thing, sometimes you reach a point of tiredness where mind over matter just doesn't work.

You did the right thing, only you know how tired you felt and only you would be responsible if your eyes ended up closing and you crashed.

You did the right thing. I once fell asleep at the traffic lights after a night shift. The driver behind got out to wake me up
I was horrified (and at a busy roundabout very glad i had the handbrake on) fortunately there is a coffee shop on the other side i could stop at to wake up a bit. There have been a number of other health care professionals who sadly weren't so lucky.

You did the right thing. I've exchanged letters with fellow HGV drivers in prison for nodding off and killing people.