Anyone who drives is at risk of falling asleep at the wheel, but some groups of people are more at risk than others. They include:

• Young drivers – Combining inexperience with sleepiness and a tendency to drive at night puts young people at risk, especially males aged 16-25 years.

• Shift workers and people working long hours – People who work night shifts, rotating shifts, double shifts or work more than one job have a six-fold increase in drowsy driving crashes.

• Commercial drivers – Those who drive a high number of miles and drive at night are at significantly higher risk for fall-asleep crashes. Commercial drivers have also been found to be at a high risk for sleep disorders.

• People with untreated sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) – People with untreated OSA are up to seven times more likely to have a drowsy driving crash. For some people insomnia can increase fatigue.

• Business travelers – Frequent travelers who may be suffering from jet lag and crossing time zones, spending long hours behind the wheel or getting too little sleep. http://drowsydriving.org

By Tom Odegaard Executive Director Evergreen Safety Council

According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) surveys, half of Americans consistently report that they have driven drowsy and approximately 20% admit that they have actually fallen asleep at the wheel in the previous year.

Did You Know:
100,000 crashes each year are caused by fatigued drivers? Each year drowsy driving crashes result in at least 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary losses? 55% of drowsy driving crashes are caused by drivers less than 25 years old? Being awake for 18 hours is equal to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08%, which in every state is the legal limit for driving under the influence (DUI) and leaves you at equal risk for a crash?

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