Wednesday, February 10, 2010

November 05, 2009 17:51 PM

Sleepy Driving Causes Nearly Two Million Crashes In U.S: Survey

LOS ANGELES, Nov 5 (Bernama) -- Sleepy drivers pose a menace on the road, causing nearly two million crashes every year in the United States, according to a survey published, reported China's Xinhua news agency.

The survey found that 1.9 million people or one percent of U.S. drivers, have had accidents or near-misses, over the past year because they were driving while feeling too tired.

Almost more than half drivers surveyed admiitted that they had driven their vehicles while feeling drowsy over the past year, while 28 percent said they drove while feeling sleeping at least once a month, Xinhua cited the survey sponsored by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).

Researchers found that drivers can become impaired as if they were drunk if they did not sleep for more than 20 hours, and tired people will react slowly and have a poor judgement while driving.

"People underestimate how tired they are and think that they can stay awake by sheer force of will," NSF Chairman Thomas Balkin said in a news release about the 2009 Sleep in America poll.

"This is a risky misconception. Would there be 1.9 million fatigue-related crashes or near-misses if people were good at assessing their own ability to drive when fatigued?" he asked.

"The problem is that, although we are pretty good at recognizing when we will feel sleepy, but we do not recognize the process of actually falling asleep as it is happening," Balkin said.

He added that the process robs us of both self-awareness and awareness of our environment, and all it takes, is a moment of reduced awareness to cause a crash"

The NSF recommends that drivers watch out for these warning signs: difficulty focusing, heavy eyelids, difficulty avoiding daydreams, nodding, forgetting the last few miles they've driven, and repeated yawning.

If people do feel sleepy on the road, turn the wheel over to a buddy and take a nap, the NSF suggested.

Although caffeinated beverages could keep drivers more alert for a few hours, caffeine was no replacement for sleep, the NSF said.

-- BERNAMA

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