Night Shift, Codeine Cough Syrup and a 5 a.m. Trip
You are a driver with a logistics company. You have just finished a 12-hour night shift at 6:00 a.m. and are due to drive a 120 km trip to Ibadan for a family emergency. At 4:00 a.m. you took 10 mL of cough syrup containing codeine for a dry cough. You have drunk two cans of energy drink. You feel 'awake' but your eyes are heavy, you have yawned repeatedly, and you cannot remember part of the drive back to the depot. Your phone rings; it is your sister asking how soon you will arrive. Your colleague offers to drive, but he has no licence for the company vehicle. A commercial bus leaves for Ibadan in 40 minutes from a park 1 km away. The company's policy says any driver involved in a crash after a night shift must be tested for drugs and alcohol.
1. Assess your fitness to drive and explain the specific warning signs.
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You are not fit to drive. Codeine is an opioid that causes drowsiness and slows reaction time; the 10 mL dose at 4:00 a.m. is still active, and it is compounded by 12 hours of night work. The repeated yawning, heavy eyes, and memory gap on the drive back are red flags for fatigue and possible microsleeps. Energy drinks mask tiredness but do not restore alertness; they can also create a crash after the stimulant wears off. The fact that you feel 'awake' is unreliable. A 120 km trip with impaired attention is a high-risk drive for you, your family, and other road users. The family emergency is real, but it does not change the impairment. Hand over the keys.
2. What are your safe alternatives, and how do you handle your colleague's offer?
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The safest options are, in order: let a rested, properly licensed driver take the company vehicle; travel as a passenger on the 40-minute commercial bus; or postpone until you have slept and the codeine effect has cleared. Your colleague cannot drive the company vehicle without a licence, so that option is out unless he is licensed and insured for it. Do not take the bus and then drive at the other end. If no alternative exists, wait-sleep is the only reliable remedy. Inform your supervisor and family of the delay. If the company requires post-incident testing, comply, but the decision not to drive should be made before any incident. Document the fatigue and medication so the pressure to drive is not repeated.
3. Your sister's call is urgent. What do you do about the phone and the pressure to set off immediately?
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Do not answer the phone while driving, and do not take the call as pressure to set off. If you have not yet left, answer it while stationary and tell your sister you are unfit to drive and are arranging alternative transport. If you were already driving, pull over safely before answering. The call does not make the journey safer, and holding a phone would add distraction to impairment. Keep the conversation short: state your plan, give an expected arrival time by bus, and ask someone to meet you. If the family emergency needs immediate action, delegate it to someone who is not driving. The legal and policy consequences of driving impaired are severe; the phone is a secondary hazard.