by Lydia Fielder
After sacrificing shuteye to study, students heading home for holidays might be operating on little-to-no sleep. Four years ago, one University of Arkansas police corporal got the call that his daughter would never again be making that journey home.
High school graduate Sophia Asencio-Porter was traveling home in the dark of the morning from coaching a cheer camp in Mississippi in June 2014 when she fell asleep behind the wheel, veered across four lanes of traffic, and collided with an oncoming semi truck. She died upon impact.
UAPD Cpl. Allen Porter said he thinks about her every day, especially with the end of the semester nearing.
“She graduated, she got accepted to UAFS, made their cheer team, and she got a job with the National Cheerleading Association,” Porter said. “She was going to be a cheer coach.”
But in just a mere few seconds, Sophia’s plans came to a screeching halt.
“As a parent, you worry about drunk driving, about texting and driving, inattentive driving, speeding, getting tickets and wrecks,” Porter said. “But I don’t believe driving drowsy has been at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds. It’s very easy, and it’s very, very dangerous.”
Getting four to five hours a sleep a night and driving is the same as driving while legally drunk, according to AAA. Further, at that little level of sleep, drivers are twelve times more likely to crash. For many high school and college students, five hours a night is a common average. In fact, drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 are almost twice as likely to be involved in a drowsy driving crash as someone over 40, no matter how much sleep.
Porter said he hopes everyone understands that they have limitations.
“Even I used to pride myself on being able to drive 10 hours a day. But really, getting there safe is more important than getting there quick,” Porter said. “There’s nothing wrong with calling someone, pulling over, or having someone else come and drive you. What’s the rush?”
Symptoms of drowsy driving can include having trouble keeping eyes open, drifting from lanes or not remembering the last few miles driven. However, more than half of drivers involved in fatigue-related crashes experienced no symptoms before falling asleep behind the wheel. AAA urges drivers to not rely on their bodies to provide warning signs of fatigue and should instead prioritize getting plenty of sleep in their daily schedules.
Other tips for staying safe include traveling at times when normally awake, scheduling a break every two hours or every 100 miles, avoiding heavy foods, and traveling with an alert passenger.
Cpl. Porter said there is not a day that goes by he doesn’t think about his daughter.
“If I’m working any sporting events and I see a cheerleader, that brings me back,” said Porter. “Any time I see an individual who even gives me the slightest smile close to Sophia, I think about her. There are plenty of individuals on campus that remind me of her in some certain way.”
“We always feel the loss, and there’s no one or nothing that can take her place, or substitute, or make life more comfortable other than knowing that she’s in the hands of the Lord.”