Drowsy driving

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Sleep-deprived driving (commonly known as tired driving, drowsy driving, or fatigued driving) is the operation of a motor vehicle while being cognitively impaired by a lack of sleep. Sleep deprivation is a major cause of motor vehicle accidents, and it can impair the human brain as much as inebriation can.^[1] According to a 1998 survey, 23% of adults have fallen asleep while driving.^[2] According to the United States Department of Transportation, twice as many male drivers than female drivers admit to have fallen asleep while driving.^[3]

In the United States, 250,000 drivers fall asleep at the wheel every day, according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and in a national poll by the National Sleep Foundation, 54% of adult drivers said they had driven while drowsy during the past year with 28% saying they had actually fallen asleep while driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving is a factor in more than 100,000 crashes, resulting in 6,550 deaths and 80,000 injuries annually in the USA.^[4]

When a person does not get an adequate amount of sleep, their ability to function is affected. As listed below, their coordination is impaired, have longer reaction time, impairs judgment, and memory is impaired.