Drowsy Driving Causes Almost 2,000 Deaths A Year

April 2, 2009 10:57 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Sleepy American motorists behind the wheels caused 1,550 deaths and 40,000 injuries a year, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Another report by the National Sleep Foundation places a larger estimate on the negative effects of drowsy driving at 71,000 injuries and 5,500 deaths annually.

Medical experts compare the negative effects of drowsy drinking to driving under the influence. Dr. Carol Ash, medical director of the Somerset Medical Center's Sleep for Life, explained sleep deprivation for 18 hours makes a person feel drunk with an equivalent effect on the brain of a blood alcohol level of 1.0.

Drowsy driving affects mostly young male motorists. Studies have shown that drivers belonging to the age range 16 to 29 have four times more chances of being involved in a vehicular crash due to sleepiness than those from older age groups. Another group at high risk is shift workers.

Across the nation, a 2009 survey made by the National Sleep Foundation said 54 percent of adults in the U.S. or about 110 million drivers sat behind the wheels even while they were sleepy at least once the past 12 months. Another 28 percent admitted having actually dozed off while driving a car.

As workers engage in multiple jobs while the economy worsens, the problem of drowsy drivers is expected to worsen. As it is one-fifth of Americans reported having less than six hours of sleep a day. A number of people whose lack of sleep are caused by a medical conditions are now hesitant to go back to sleep specialists for treatment because of the expenses involved, with some of them among the thousands laid off recently.

The rise in number of drowsy-driving related deaths and injuries has led some states to consider passing legislation that would address the problem. According to USA Today, New Jersey had made drowsy driving a criminal offense by classifying it as recklessness.

However, one challenge to such law is the lack of a medical test to measure drowsiness, unlike alcohol consumption. The NHTSA in its report, pointed out, "No definitive criteria are available for establishing how sleepy a driver is or a threshold at which driver sleepiness affects safety. If drivers are unharmed in a crash, hyperarousal following the crash usually eliminates any residual impairment that could assist investigating officers in attributing a crash to sleepiness."