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Two in every five drivers may be driving when they should be sleeping instead.
New reports have shown that nearly one in six fatal crashes and one in eight serious crashes have involved drowsy drivers. As the holiday season approaches, more than 39 million people are expected to hit the road, which could become a little more dangerous as people are getting less and less sleep.
“It is a huge danger on the roadways because people are driving more hours and driving further distances, especially around the holidays,” New York State Police spokesperson Mark O’Donnell said. “It’s a huge problem.”
Sleep deprived
Across the nation, one in five people are having a hard time sleeping, resulting in a less-rested and less-alert driver, according to Excellus Blue Cross BlueShield.
Locally, residents are getting just shy of seven hours of sleep, lower than the seven to eight consecutive hours recommended for well-functioning adults.
“You need seven to eight hours of sleep; two-hour naps here and there are not functionally the same as sleeping eight hours,” Laurie Malotte, a senior sleep technician at Thompson Health’s sleep center, said.
Increasing demands in professional and social lives have helped to cause the deterioration of America’s sleep schedule. When a person doesn’t get the right amount of sleep, a “sleep debt” accumulates, and it needs to be repaid. While some may repay that debt through some extra hours on the weekend, often it comes while behind the wheel of a car, the National Sleep Foundation reports.
Stress, alcohol and medication can contribute to a deeper sleep debt. Adding on a sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea — where you stop breathing for seconds, hundreds of times a night — can create even bigger problems in life, and especially on the road.
“There are people out there who really have no idea how tired they are,” Malotte said.
The danger of drowsiness
Drowsiness, unlike most other driving impairments, can’t be proved when police and emergency responders come to the scene of a drowsy driving accident.
The National Sleep Foundation reports that the majority of drowsy-driving accidents are on high-speed roads, such as Route 490 or the Thruway, with cars drifting to the left or right of the road. The New York State Department of Transportation has installed rumble strips on the shoulders of many roads, the Thruway included. More than half of fatalities can be pinned on cars leaving the roadway, the DOT says — and the installation of the deeply grooved pavement about a foot past the white line has helped to drop the amount of crashes where cars leave the road by 60 percent.
Two in every five drivers may be driving when they should be sleeping instead.
New reports have shown that nearly one in six fatal crashes and one in eight serious crashes have involved drowsy drivers. As the holiday season approaches, more than 39 million people are expected to hit the road, which could become a little more dangerous as people are getting less and less sleep.
“It is a huge danger on the roadways because people are driving more hours and driving further distances, especially around the holidays,” New York State Police spokesperson Mark O’Donnell said. “It’s a huge problem.”
Sleep deprived
Across the nation, one in five people are having a hard time sleeping, resulting in a less-rested and less-alert driver, according to Excellus Blue Cross BlueShield.
Locally, residents are getting just shy of seven hours of sleep, lower than the seven to eight consecutive hours recommended for well-functioning adults.
“You need seven to eight hours of sleep; two-hour naps here and there are not functionally the same as sleeping eight hours,” Laurie Malotte, a senior sleep technician at Thompson Health’s sleep center, said.
Increasing demands in professional and social lives have helped to cause the deterioration of America’s sleep schedule. When a person doesn’t get the right amount of sleep, a “sleep debt” accumulates, and it needs to be repaid. While some may repay that debt through some extra hours on the weekend, often it comes while behind the wheel of a car, the National Sleep Foundation reports.
Stress, alcohol and medication can contribute to a deeper sleep debt. Adding on a sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea — where you stop breathing for seconds, hundreds of times a night — can create even bigger problems in life, and especially on the road.
“There are people out there who really have no idea how tired they are,” Malotte said.
The danger of drowsiness
Drowsiness, unlike most other driving impairments, can’t be proved when police and emergency responders come to the scene of a drowsy driving accident.
The National Sleep Foundation reports that the majority of drowsy-driving accidents are on high-speed roads, such as Route 490 or the Thruway, with cars drifting to the left or right of the road. The New York State Department of Transportation has installed rumble strips on the shoulders of many roads, the Thruway included. More than half of fatalities can be pinned on cars leaving the roadway, the DOT says — and the installation of the deeply grooved pavement about a foot past the white line has helped to drop the amount of crashes where cars leave the road by 60 percent.
While it’s not illegal to drive while sleepy, police can potentially charge drivers with following too closely, failure to yield and failure to stay in a lane.
“We don’t pull you over for drowsy driving, we pull you over because you moved from your lane unsafely,” O’Donnell said.
Very often, drivers pulled over by police will not admit to being sleepy.
“There are certain cases where people say they fell asleep or where they dozed off, but a majority of people aren’t going to go for it,” O’Donnell said. “That’s the problem. It’s really difficult because people aren’t going to be truthful with us.”
Malotte says drivers will also become more alert after being pulled over or involved in an accident. Once the car leaves the road, adrenaline surfaces and the tired person is now much more alert.
“It’s difficult to monitor something like that, and to monitor people to say ‘you can’t drive because you’re too tired,’ well, what is tired and how do you prove it?” Malotte said.
Many people while drowsy driving will experience slower reaction times; impaired judgment and vision; and a decline in attention to signs, other vehicles and road changes.
“It’s just as dangerous as people who were drinking and driving,” O’Donnell said. “People that are exhausted should know their limitations.”
The implications
More than 100,000 motor vehicle accidents, 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths are attributed to drowsy driving each year. In New York alone, the New York State Police told AAA that 2,800 drivers are involved in crashes yearly from fatigue.
A bus driver in 2002 was charged after apparently falling asleep while driving a tour bus from Canada. The crash on the Thruway outside of Victor injured nearly all 50 people on board and killed five, including two teenagers.
“He was found guilty because there were actually witnesses on the bus who said he looked tired when they got on the bus, and he kept dozing off,” O’Donnell said.
The driver was accused of staying up all night at a casino in Niagara Falls, gambling.
“You have other lives that you’re risking, whether you’re in the car alone or not. Certainly if you’re driving a tour bus and if you have 50 people you’re risking all their lives as well,” O’Donnell said.
While younger drivers between 16 and 24 are more likely to be involved in drowsy driving as drivers double their age, all age groups are likely to see some drowsy driving between midnight and 6 a.m. and during the afternoon lull, lasting between 1 and 4 p.m.
Drivers who are taking longer routes, such as heading to a family member’s home for the holiday, should make sure there are others in the vehicle and that they’re well-rested before taking off on the trip.
“If the furthest you drive is an average of 20 or 30 miles a day, and then you decide to go on a 400-mile drive to visit friends or relatives for the holidays or a weekend, it’s a little above your ability to drive that far,” O’Donnell said. “If you have four people in the car, make sure one other person is awake, and if you get tired, switch drivers.”
Avoiding the drive at night, when the brain is hard-wired to sleep, is another good, life-saving tip, Malotte said. Falling asleep for even three to four seconds can be tragic.
“There are lot of incidents where people fall asleep and all of a sudden, they’re in a ditch. They’re microsleeps, with three to five seconds of time where you’re actually asleep,” she said. “In theory, a lot of things can happen in that time. Your brain is hard-wired to want to sleep at night. People aren’t necessarily aware as they’re dozing off.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but it can be a tragic thing if you’re on the road.”
— Includes reporting by staff writer Melissa Daniels
