Dangers of Fatigue Driving (PART 1)

Miracle Body and Paint in San Antonio Texas will be discussing the dangers of fatigue driving in a two-part blog post. Be sure to check back in regularly for more auto tips, tricks and advises that can help you drive better and safer.

The National Sleep Foundation in the US conducted a study which showed that there is about 60% or around 168 million adult drivers who drove while experiencing fatigue. In the said study, one third or approximately 103 million respondents have actually fallen asleep while driving. A portion of the respondents from the study even admitted that it their dozing off has caused them to be involved in an auto accident. The National Traffic Safety Administration further supported this by reporting that there  were about an estimated 100,000 yearly police-reported auto accidents from fatigue driving.  These accidents have now came down to staggering 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses. These shocking numbers are still on a rise.
It’s difficult to attribute collisions to sleepiness or fatigue due to these reasons:

• Unlike that of using breathalyzer for intoxication, there is still no test that show levels of sleepiness.
• When it comes to determining that drowsiness is in fact a crash factor, there exists little or no police training.
• Self-reporting are seen as unreliable
• Sleepiness or fatigue often happens due to other causes such as alcohol consumption.

No driver is safe when it comes to fatigue driving. Studies show that sleep-related crashes are more common in young people. Men, adults with children and those who have shifting work schedules are the ones who are often involved in these cases.  In fact, a poll released by the NFS revealed:

• Those who are 18-29 years of age are the most likely to drive sleepy
• Men are more likely to drive sleepy and more likely to fall asleep while driving
• People with children are more likely to drive drowsy
• People working in shifts are more likely to drive drowsy as compared to regular daytime workers
• The less people sleep, the greater the risk of auto accidents
• Being awake for 18 hours produced an impairment equal to a blood alcohol intoxication

Be sure to stay tuned for the next installment of San Antonio’s Miracle Body and Paint blog about fatigue driving.