Wake-up call: AAA study shows too many drivers are asleep at the wheel
Many of us have struggled with keeping awake behind the wheel. Too many. One in six fatal crashes—about 17 percent of all crashes—are related to a drowsy driver (pdf), according to a new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. This study is a wake-up call that drowsy driving is a factor in more crashes than previously thought, contributing to highway crashes and fatalities, along speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving.
The study found that 41 percent admit to falling asleep or nodding off at some point during their driving experience, based on a telephone survey of 2,000 U.S. residents. One in 10 said they did so in the past year and 27 percent of those surveyed said they were so tired behind the wheel that they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.