Do Not Drive Drowsy

According to recent polls about 60% of all adult drivers. That is about 168 million people that have said they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year. A little over 100 million people have actually fallen asleep at the wheel and 1 million have nodded off before. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. These figures may be the tip of the iceberg, since currently it is difficult to attribute crashes to sleepiness.

Adults between 18 to 29 are much more likely to drive while drowsy compared to other age groups those between 30 and 64 are next in line with nearly 2-3 drivers driving drowsy. Half of those 65 and older say they have as well. Men are more likely than women to drive drowsy and twice as likely to fall asleep while driving. One class of drivers those that work shifts are more likely than those who work a regular day time shift. Sleep deprivation increases the risk of a sleep related crash: the less people sleep the greater the risk. 

Many states are changing laws so that drowsy driving incidents can end with jail sentences for the driver. Drowsy drivers can also be sued and have been involved in multi million dollar settlements. . 

This story affect us not because I have been a drowsy driver. In fact I do not drive nor ever had. My father who used to have a job that including driving many hours would drowsy drive and occasionally fall asleep. He did have several wrecks due to this reason. This is not what led to his death but did lead to much pain for him 

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