Many Americans are chronically sleep-deprived, routinely getting less than seven hours of sleep each night. Getting too little sleep can cause multiple health problems, including depression, weight gain, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In addition to being bad for people’s health, getting too little sleep may also cause accidents when drowsy people drive. A recent study demonstrates that drowsy driving can be just as dangerous as drunk driving is.
Study about accident risk and hours of sleep
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a study using survey data culled from the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey, which was conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The drivers involved in accidents that required having a vehicle towed away of an ambulance were asked about the amount of sleep they had gotten in the prior 24 hours. The researchers found several alarming things.
Drivers who got between five and six hours of sleep in the previous 24-hour period before their accidents were two times as likely to have wrecks. Drivers who received less sleep were even likelier to cause accidents. Those who received between four and five hours of sleep had a 4.3 times greater risk of accident involvement than drivers who had slept at least seven hours. This risk was equal to that of people who drive while drunk. Sleep experts indicate that people should get between seven and nine hours of sleep each 24-hour time period.
Statistics and drowsy driving
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 35,092 people were killed in crashes in 2015. Previous studies have shown that 20 percent of fatal accidents are at least partly caused by drowsy driving. Taking these two figures together, that would mean that around 7,000 people in 2015 were killed in accidents involving drowsy drivers.
In 2005, the National Sleep Foundation conducted a poll and found that 60 percent of American drivers admitted to driving while drowsy at least once in the previous year. Shockingly, 37 percent stated that they had fallen asleep while driving, and 13 percent admitted to falling asleep while they were behind the wheel at least once per month.
People with the highest risk of drowsy driving
In a 2002 poll, the National Sleep Foundation looked at the different types of people who are most at risk of driving while they are drowsy. The foundation found the following groups have the highest risk of driving while they are tired:
- Young adults ages 18 to 29
- Men
- People with young children
- Shift workers
- Long Distance Truckers
In another study that was conducted in Australia, researchers found that people who stayed awake for 18 hours in a row had impairments in their driving that were equal to someone who had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05 percent. People who were awake for 24 hours before driving showed impairment levels that were equal to those who had blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10 percent.
Prioritizing sleep
Prioritizing sleep is important. People should make certain to get a minimum of seven hours of sleep in every 24-hour period. If a person gets fewer hours of sleep than that at night, he or she should make up the difference by taking a nap at another time of the day. If a person feels tired while he or she is driving, it is important for him or her not to believe that he or she can simply push through the tiredness. Instead, people should pull off of the road and take short naps before resuming driving. Even getting naps as short as 20 minutes may help people to stay awake while they drive.
During long trips, people should make certain to take breaks every two hours. If possible, they should travel with a companion and take turns behind the wheel. It is also important for people to drive during times that they are normally awake and to avoid medications that cause drowsiness and heavy foods.
Drowsy driving can be deadly both to the tired drivers as well as to others. When people drive when they are tired, they may seriously injure or kill other people in accidents. People who are injured by drowsy drivers may want to consider filing personal injury lawsuits against the drivers. Through lawsuits, injured plaintiffs might be able to recover damages so that they can be compensated for the losses that were caused by the actions of the negligent drivers who fell asleep and injured them. All people should make certain that they get at least seven hours of sleep every day and should avoid getting behind the wheel if they are prevented from getting enough sleep in any 24-hour period of time. The risks involved with drowsy driving make taking a chance and driving a bad idea.
Sources:
http://drowsydriving.org/about/facts-and-stats/
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/12/06/504448639/drivers-beware-crash-rate-spikes-with-every-hour-of-lost-sleep?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=202806
http://www.livescience.com/57112-drowsy-driving-crash-risk.html
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