One in 6 Fatal Crashes Involves a Drowsy Driver

Falling asleep at the wheel while driving is more common that we might think, reports CBS News national correspondent Jim Axelrod.

Forty-one percent of drivers admit to having "fallen asleep or nodded off" at some point in their lives, according to a new survey done by AAA - one in 10 within the last year. More than half of them fell asleep on a highway. And one in six fatal crashes involves a drowsy driver.

"Most people think they can control it, but the research show nearly 60 percent of people fall asleep just an hour into their trip," said Nancy White with AAA.

Nine years ago, Thomas Gallaghy was driving with his wife at 1:30 in the afternoon when he fell asleep and hit a tree. His wife was killed instantly.

"Everybody has periods of drowsiness while driving," Gallaghy said. "What really kills is the belief by the driver that he or she is going to get through it."

Rumble strips that create vibration when the car veers off the road to shake the driver awake were the old-fashioned ways of waking drowsy drivers.

The new-fashioned way: technology that Mercedes Benz puts in some of its cars. Computers monitor drivers' behavior, such as minor steering errors abruptly corrected or how many times a driver crosses in or out of lanes. If the 70-point check system determines it is early stage drowsy driving, an alarm sounds on the instrument panel.

"A big part of it is public education," White said. "People really understanding the problem and stopping the behavior."

That's why AAA is airing public service advertisements - hoping to issue a wake-up call.

[wyodutch]

Another issue for the nanny state to address.
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Let's not use common sense... let's pass some more laws, hire another battalion of bureaucrats.
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Maybe we can be subjected to some kind of checkpoints where the state can force us to prove we're not sleepy.

[tmittelstaed]

This problem has absolutely nothing to do with getting enough sleep, there are plenty of instances of highway hypnosis kicking in 2 hours after the person has woken up from an 8 hour rest.

The problem is caused simply by the fact that the modern vehicle is a very comfortable place to sit, and that driving a monotonous stretch of highway or driving a highway that you repeatedly drive over and over, simply does not take a lot of most people's brain capacity.

When you force your mind to do very little your mind goes into a trance. This is the basis of meditation, hypnosis, etc. Your mind wants you to go to sleep because your conscious mind must have something to do. If you give it nothing then your telling your mind to put you to sleep. Once asleep, with the conscious inputs disconnected, your mind is free to manufacture things to keep it entertained, which is why you dream.

The best way to combat this is to give your mind an activity to keep it's extra mental capacity busy, give it a pacifier. Some really good ones are audio Books on Tape, or rock and roll music (or better yet, rap) played at a loud volume, or radio talk shows with decent topics. Or even conversation with your spouse or friend. You just don't want to use something that is too great of a distraction like a cell phone call. You want an activity that you can very easily and rapidly shift focus from. And you don't want an activity that is associated with relaxation, such as listening to easy listening music, or getting a BJ by your SO.

And of course, the last tool in the arsenal any motorist should have on a long trip is good old caffeine. Coffee is the old standby and it works well, but for the coffee haters, Red Bull works just as well.

[rwsmith29456]

I never drive when drowsy but one time I was on a particularly hypnotic stretch of road and instantly nodded off. There must have been other trouble there because they had put those bumps on the emergency lane that wake you up. Scared the absolute heck out of me.

[formrusmcsgt]

30 years ago I figured out that if I need an apparatus to wake me, I'm not getting enough sleep. I adjusted the time I go to bed so that I wake up in time w/o an alarm.

[handydan918]

William Dufty wrote "Sugar Blues about 30 years ago, and talked therein about the fatalities on American highways. I don't remember the stats, but IIRC, the body count was almost as high for people nodding of as for drunk driving.
Dufty observed that many or most of these incidents could be avoided by the simple expedient of reducing/eliminating sugar in the diet, particularly when driving.

My own experience has confirmed this in the intervening years. I have used this principle to avoid drowsiness on extended drive times approaching 24 hours, with no susceptibility to nodding off.