Why Fatigue Driving is Fatal (PART 2)

Welcome to the second blog installment of Miracle Body and Paint in San Antonio Texas on Fatigue Driving. We’ll be presenting more numbers and statistics that relates fatigue driving to auto accidents and auto collisions.

71% of American adults drive their cars to go to work. According to the National Sleep Foundation or NSF, a big portion of that number have admitted getting sleepy when driving. From the same study, almost one fourth of the respondents admitted that they have driven sleepy to or from work at least a few days within a month.  4 percent of the respondents even said they drive drowsy on an everyday basis.NSF’s 2000 Sleep in America poll showed that 42 percent who became stressed, 32 percent got impatient and 12 percent drove faster as a result of drowsy driving.

• In the same poll conducted by the NSF, there is about one in five drivers that pulled over to nap to overcome drowsiness. Older adults are more likely to pull over compared younger drivers.
• People are more likely to fall asleep more when they are going on high-speed, long, boring and, rural highways. Given this result, urban people are still more likely to doze off while driving compared to people in rural.
• Collisions or near accidents occur more frequently between 4:00 – 6:00 a.m.; midnight – 2:00 a.m. and 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
• Almost one-quarter of respondents or approximately 23 percent said that they know someone personally who got involved in an auto collision due to fatigue.
• NSF’s 1999 Sleep in America poll showed that there are almost 60 percent of parents with children that have not yet discussed the dangers of falling asleep while behind the wheels. In the said poll, nearly all of the respondents agreed that information about driving while drowsy should be included in tests for a driver’s license.

Getting not enough sleep and being overly fatigued contribute to auto collisions and other auto accidents since it create attention lapses. It cannot be denied that crashes related to drowsy driving comes at a cost, resulting to jail sentences and even multi-million dollar settlements. Miracle Body and Paint in San Antonio Texas suggests you to pull over immediately once you are feeling sleepy. Better yet, make sure you take enough sleep and rest before driving your vehicle.