Every day, nearly 84 million Americans that are sleep deprived leave the road and drive, resulting to an estimated 328,000 car crashes with over 6400 lives lost each year and is expected to even increase as the year ends. This is according to the study about how serious drowsy driving is released by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a nonprofit organization representing state highway safety offices.
In addition to this, the annual cost to society of accidents related to drowsy driving causing injury or death is 109 billion dollars, that's not even including property damage. GHSA director Jonathan Adkins further added:
"Law enforcement authorities lack protocols and training to help agents to recognize driving drowsy on the road. And if an accident occurs, the sleepy driver does not report the cause perhaps due to concerns about monetary and other sanctions."
The study also found that in more than half of accidents cause by drowsy driving last year there are teenagers and young adults involved. People who work at night or in long or irregular shifts are also more likely to drive when they are too tired to do so, along with the estimated 40 million Americans suffering from a sleep disorder.
Furthermore, the study also stated that the sleepier the driver, the worse their driving. Going 5 hours without sleep at night is equivalent too 4 bottle of beers while going 24 hours without sleep was found to be comparable to a .15 percent blood alcohol level.
This growing threat prompted the National Security Administration Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) to expand their definition of driving in poor conditions and added drowsy driving now to instances like drunk driving, text driving and driving under the influence of drugs.
Transportation specialist and author Pam Fischer strongly urge Americans to change the way they consider sleeping.
"Sleep is a restorative activity that sustains life, which is as important as eating right and exercising. When we skip sleep, we are less able to react quickly, a critical element of safe driving. Our mental and physical health also suffers. Teens and young adults should get 8 to 10 hours of sleep per day while adults should have 7 to 9."
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