How Dangerous Is Drowsy Driving, and What Can You Do to Avoid It?

Data from the National Sleep Foundation suggests that around half of all American drivers regularly drive while feeling drowsy. One in five US drivers admit to nodding off while driving at least once since they got their driver’s license.

Tired driving is a considerable problem in the United States today, with the vast majority of drivers grossly underestimating the risks posed to other road users, their passengers, and themselves. To put it into perspective, among motorists who have not slept for 20 hours or more, the impairment is equivalent to driving over the legal blood alcohol limit. Drowsy driving affects the driver’s attention span and awareness of hazards and makes them three times more likely to be involved in a collision.

Sometimes drivers don’t even realize they’re too tired to drive.

The signs can be hard to interpret. Some people experience microsleeps: short, involuntary lapses in attention. Lasting up to five seconds a time, microsleeps are particularly dangerous since in that time, at highway speed, a car can travel the length of a football field.

For those who spend long hours commuting, setting off at the crack of dawn, drowsiness can come to seem like a natural part of life. However, it is important to appreciate that driving drowsy can be just as dangerous as driving drunk or getting behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs. In a few states, there are similar legal repercussions.

In the US every year, 100,000 reported crashes involve drowsy drivers.

Collisions involving drowsy drivers result in 71,000 injuries and more than 1,500 fatalities every year. However, law enforcement agencies believe that these figures may in fact be much higher, since it is not always easy to determine whether a driver was tired at the time of the accident, and they may not offer this information voluntarily.

In addition to sleep deprivation, other factors can result in drowsy driving.

Certain medications can slow down reaction times, leaving a person feeling fatigued. Some sleep disorders can be challenging to diagnose, leaving the sufferer feeling perpetually tired. Studies show that people who fail to get at least six hours of sleep a night, as well as those who snore, are more likely to fall asleep while driving.

Accidents resulting from drowsy driving typically share three common components.

These common characteristics are:

1. There is usually just one occupant in the car.

2. They are more common in the afternoon, and between midnight and dawn.

3. There are usually no suggestions that the brakes were applied when the car veered off the road, since the driver was asleep at the time.

Drowsy driving is illegal in some states.

In New Jersey, drivers who are already tired when they get behind the wheel face a very real possibility of winding up in jail. Here, any motorist who has gone without sleep for 24 hours or more is deemed to be driving recklessly, placing them in the same category as a drunk driver. Arkansas enacted a similar law criminalizing drowsy driving, while other states have introduced legislation or commissioned studies about it.

If you notice these telltale tiredness signs, think twice before driving.

Common indicators of fatigue include:

· Memory Lapses: If your journey starts to feel like a blur, leaving you struggling to remember the last couple of miles, it is probably time to pull off the road and take a break.

· Mood Disturbance: Irritability or restlessness can mean that you’re tired. You may also find yourself daydreaming and having wandering thoughts.

· Yawning: Yawning is an obvious sign of fatigue; if you are continually yawning, tearing up, or struggling to keep your eyes open, you should stop.

· Unsafe maneuvers: All motorists make mistakes from time to time, but if you keep accidentally activating safety features like the lane departure warning and lane keeping assist, this could indicate that you’re too tired to drive. So can tailgating, sharp braking, and other hazardous maneuvers.

· Drifting: If you find yourself engaging the rumble strips along the edge of the highway or drifting from lane to lane, it is definitely time to pull over.

There are steps you can take to avoid drowsy driving.

Some cars come equipped with innovative eye-tracking technology that prompts drivers to take a break if they start to appear tired. But even if your car does not have such high-tech features, there are several things you can do to mitigate your risk of drowsy driving:

· Avoid alcohol completely.

· Avoid eating a heavy meal before setting out.

· Do not drive when you normally sleep.

· Ensure you get plenty of rest before setting out.

· Split the driving on long trips.

· Avoid strenuous exercise just prior to a long journey.

· Take breaks every 2 hours and avoid driving more than 8 hours in a single day.

· At the first sign of tiredness, pull of the highway, park, and take a break. If you are tired before you even start on a long journey, you should either postpone it, or ask someone else to drive.