Drowsy driving a common cause of St. Louis car accidents

In fact, the CDC reports that drowsy driving has been linked to 100,000 car accidents, 71,000 injuries and 1,500 car accident fatalities each year nationwide. Based on a 2009 Sleep in American survey, it is estimated that one in three drivers have driven while impaired by drowsiness within the last month and another 20 percent of drivers admit to having fallen asleep behind the wheel.

We urge you to speak to family and friends about the dangers this week during Drowsy Driving Prevention Week.

According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, one in six fatal car accidents, one in eight car accidents involving injury and one in fourteen car accidents that required a vehicle to be towed involved a drowsy driver.

“Many of us tend to underestimate the negative effects associated with fatigue and sleep deprivation and, conversely, overestimate our abilities to overcome them while driving,” said Kathleen Marvaso, vice president, AAA Public Affairs. “Unfortunately, too many drivers have adopted the ‘I’m tired, but I can make it’ mentality, often to their own peril or to the peril of others.”
The National Sleep Foundation offers the following tips to help drivers avoid drowsy driving and recognize signs they may be falling asleep:

~ Normalize your sleep schedule with the goal of getting 7 to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep daily. Create a sleep-friendly environment – cool, dark, quiet and free of distractions.

~ While consuming caffeine can temporarily reduce feelings of drowsiness, a better short-term fix while on the road is pulling over for a 15 to 20 minute cat nap. On longer trips, plan to stop every 100 miles or two hours.

~ Signs that a driver may be falling asleep include: difficulty focusing, rubbing your eyes repeatedly, wandering thoughts, literally nodding off, lane drifting, rolling down the windows or turning the radio up, fidgeting and poor judgment.