Driving Drowsy is as Dangerous as Driving Drunk

Nice summer weather and long days of sunshine mean putting the top down on the convertible and going out for nice long drives. It can also mean taking the family on a car vacation.

But, before venturing out on the road, make sure you've had enough sleep. A recent poll found that 54 percent of Americans say they have driven drowsy at least once in the last year, while one quarter admit to doing so at least once a month. This can have very dangerous consequences.

A National Sleep Foundation survey revealed that a full 37 percent of the drivers they polled had actually fallen asleep at the wheel!

"Most people know the dangers of drinking and driving," says Troy Green of the American Automobile Association. "However, driving drowsy can be just as dangerous as driving drunk."

Like drugs or alcohol, sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of an accident. However, it is difficult to attribute crashes to sleepiness because there is no standardized test for drowsiness, like there is for intoxication. This lack of criteria for determining when a driver is too sleepy to drive may be one reason there is little or no police training in identifying drowsiness as a crash factor.

How many highway crashes are attributable to drowsiness?

Since police-reported crash data is unreliable due to the difficulty in detected fatigue or drowsiness, the accident reports tend to minimize the frequency of this. Based on police reports, about one percent of all crashes and about three percent of all fatal crashes are due to the driver falling asleep. The actual percentage is probably much higher, and some experts estimate that there are about 56,000 accidents involving a drowsy driver, and at least 1,500 deaths a year.

What are the warning signs of fatigue?

Failure to remember the last few miles driven; wandering or disconnected thoughts; difficulty focusing, keeping eyes open, keeping head up; drifting from lane; yawning repeatedly; tailgating or missing signs; jerking car back into the lane.

How best to prevent drowsy driving

Get a good night's sleep before heading out on a long car trip; don't drive alone; schedule regular stops; avoid alcohol or medications that impair performance.

Experts also warn that old remedies such as opening a window or turning the music up in the car do not help a drowsy driver maintain alertness. It may temporarily wake them, but will not last more than a minute or two before drowsiness overcomes the mild stimulus.

The best idea when fatigue sets in is to pull over to the side of the road and take a brief (20 to 30 minute) nap, and then drink coffee or a cola drink to provide short-term alertness. Getting there a few minutes later is better than not getting there at all!