The Dangers of Drowsy Driving

Our lack of sleep impacts us in many ways, including our ability to drive safely. If you’re injured in a vehicle accident, it may be because the other driver is chronically sleep-deprived and trying to live their stressed lives on five hours of sleep a night. Unhealthy habits catch up to us in many ways, including nodding off behind the wheel.

How Many of Us Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep?

Sufficient sleep is a critical factor to our health, and many Americans are not getting it, making them less capable of performing complex tasks like driving safely. The National Council on Aging Reports:

• The recommended amount of sleep for adults older than 18 years is at least seven hours per night
• 35.5% of American adults report sleeping less than seven hours in a 24-hour period. That translates to about 91 million people
• 50 to 70 million Americans may have sleep disorders
• About 10% of adults have insomnia (a chronic or short-term inability to fall or stay asleep) severe enough to cause daytime consequences
• Nearly 40% of adults report they accidentally fall asleep during the day
• An estimated 39.3% of Kentucky adults aren’t getting the recommended sleep. The best sleepers are in Maine (32.7% getting insufficient sleep), and the worst are in Hawaii (45.6%)

The causes could be voluntary behavior that unintentionally deprives us of sleep, personal obligations, work hours, or health problems, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

How Does Lack of Sleep Impact Our Driving Abilities?

The National Sleep Foundation states that:

• Sleepiness is a factor in an estimated 21% of all fatal motor vehicle crashes and 13% of accidents causing someone to be hospitalized
• Lack of sleep is an issue in more than 300,000 police-reported crashes, more than 100,000 related injuries, and as many as 6,400 deaths in the US annually
• Adolescents and those aged 16-24 account for about 20% of these crashes

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reports that:

• Those sleeping six to seven hours nightly are twice as likely to suffer a sleep-related crash as those sleeping eight or more hours. Sleeping less than five hours increases the risk four to five times
• The American Nurses Association 2011 Health & Safety Survey found that 10% of nurses reported they were involved in a vehicle accident they believe was due to shift work fatigue
• One survey found that nearly 5% of drivers in 12 states admitted to falling asleep while driving in the previous month

Drivers’ reaction times, awareness of hazards, and ability to sustain attention all decline as a driver becomes more tired, according to the National Safety Council. If you stay awake for more than 20 hours, your impairment may be as severe as someone who could be arrested for driving while intoxicated.

One reason why sleep-deprived drivers are dangerous is they may not realize how poorly they’re driving. They may also experience micro-sleep, a short and involuntary period of inattention. If you’re asleep for four or five seconds at highway speed, you’ll travel the length of a football field with your eyes closed.

Are Early High School Schedules Causing Accidents?

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that later high school start times lead to a significant drop in vehicle crashes with teen drivers, reports Science Daily. Many high school students, especially those in rural areas, drive to school instead of using buses.

Researchers compared adolescent drivers’ motor vehicle accident statistics in Fairfax County, Virginia, for two years before and after a 50-minute later school start time. After the new schedule started, the crash rate decreased from 31.63 to 29.59 accidents per 1,000 drivers. Teen crash rates stayed steady in the rest of the state, where school start times were unchanged.

Accidental injuries, including vehicle crashes, are the top cause of adolescent deaths in the US, according to study author Dr. Judith Owens, MPH, a Harvard Medical School professor of neurology and the director of sleep medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. She states that “independent data sources” show students sleep more when school start times are delayed.

The analysis also found later school schedules resulted in fewer distraction-related accidents. “Teenagers who get more sleep are less likely to make poor decisions such as not wearing a seat belt or engaging in distracted driving,” Owens stated. “One of the potential mechanisms for this reduction in car crashes is a decrease in behaviors that are related to risk-taking.”

Speak To a Personal Injury Attorney Today

If you or a family member has been injured or killed by a driver who was asleep or too fatigued to drive safely, Satterley & Kelley PLLC attorneys can help you take legal action. We will be with you every step of the way, protect your best interests, and ensure you get the compensation you deserve.

Schedule a free initial consultation where you can discuss the details of your case by calling our Louisville office toll-free at 855-385-9532. You may also complete our contact form if it’s more convenient.