Wake Up! Drowsy-Driving May Be as Deadly as Drunk Driving

The Carfax Safe Teen Drivers Program and Natl Sleep Foundation Alerts Parents of Young Drivers.

Copyright: 2004 Financial Times Information Ltd.

FAIRFAX, Va., Dec. 1 -- According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), driving while drowsy may be just as deadly as driving drunk. Fatigue driving contributes to nearly 100,000 police-reported automobile crashes each year. Young drivers aged 25 and under cause more than one-half of fall-asleep crashes. The Carfax Safe Teen Drivers Program and NSF are alerting parents of young drivers about the dangers of drowsy-driving.

"Like being drunk, sleepiness contributes to collisions because it slows reaction time, decreases awareness and impairs judgment- all of which are no combination for driving," said Darrel Drobnich, senior director for Government and Transportation Affairs at the National Sleep Foundation. "Fatigued drivers often do not realize the impact drowsiness may have on their driving or how easy it is to drift off."

Young people are more at risk because they tend to sleep less and drive more at night. The Carfax Safe Teen Drivers Program and NSF offers the following tips for parents to help their teens stay alert on the road:

• Know your teen and monitor their habits. Look for changes in behavior that may be attributed to sleepiness. Your teen should get between 8.5 to 9.5 hours of sleep each night. Research shows that teens need more sleep than adults to help overcome all of the hormonal and growth spurts they are going through. If your teen is overwhelmed with extra-curricular activities or work, they may not realize how exhausted they are.
• Limit nighttime driving. Many crashes occur on the weekends and at night. Establish and enforce rules about the hours your teen is allowed to drive. Now that days are getting shorter, teens may be driving at night when vision is more limited.
• Discuss signs of fatigue. Make sure your teen understands what to look for. Signs of fatigue are wandering, disconnected thoughts; difficulty focusing; drifting from your lane; frequent yawning; and trouble remembering exits.

"Communicate to your teen that if he or she experiences signs of drowsiness, they should pull off the road in a safe, well-lit area and nap for about 20 minutes," said Marianne Correa, director of the Carfax Safe Teen Drivers Program. "Falling asleep is not a controlled reaction and they should never continue driving if they are experiencing any of these signs."

For more information on this topic and other safe driving information, parents and teens can visit the Carfax Safe Teen Drivers Program at http://www.carfax.com/teen and http://www.drowsydriving.org.

Resources

Avoiding Drowsy Driving

Countermeasures

Responsibility and the Drowsy Driver

Signs of Drowsiness when Driving

How Well Are You Sleeping? - FDA Consumer Article

Circadian gene helps brain predict mealtime

Sleep less, live longer? - Increased Death Rate Associated
With Sleeping 8 Hours or More

Circadan Rythyms

"And miles to go before I sleep"

(Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening)