Articles Tagged with driving while sleepy

Motorists driving while fatigued or sleepy cause as many as 100,000 car accidents every year.  This  November, the National Sleep Foundation is marking Drowsy Driving Prevention Week to raise  awareness about the dangers of driving while sleepy.

The National Sleep Foundation commemorates the first week of November every year as Drowsy Driving Prevention Week to coincide with the end of daylight savings time.  The  National Sleep Foundation estimates that as many as 100,000 car accidents every year are caused by drivers who are too sleepy or fatigued to drive. According to the National Sleep Foundation, more than half of all American motorists admit to regularly or consistently driving while sleepy.  About 20% of American drivers admit to having operated a motor vehicle while sleepy at least once in the past year. Clearly, there are far too many people who feel comfortable driving a car when they are simply too tired or sleepy to do so.

Some categories of motorists may be at a greater risk of drowsy driving than others.  For example, motorists between the age of 16 and 25 are at a higher risk of driving while sleepy.  Male  motorists may also be much more likely to find nothing wrong while driving in a sleepy condition compared   to female drivers.  Shift  workers and commercial drivers like long haul   truck drivers may also be at higher risk of not getting enough sleep resulting in drowsy driving. Apart  from these business travelers as well as persons suffering   from medical conditions like sleep apnea are also at a higher risk.  Apnea is a sleep  condition that causes a person to suffer from respiratory interruptions  during sleep at night which causes the person to be fatigued and sleepy   in the daytime. Sometimes, drowsy driving  is the result of  taking medications like anti -depressants and antihistamines that may have sleepiness as a side effect.