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Drowsy drivers cause more than 100,000 car accidents every year. A fatigued driver should take a nap. |
BY STEPHANIE BREIJO
In 2002, a Hartwood resident and her 10-year-old daughter were killed when the driver of a tractor-trailer barreled through a red light on U.S. 17 and struck their car.
Police said they believed the trucker was driving drowsy--a leading cause of accidents nationwide, and a concern for local commuters who spend long hours on the roads.
Drowsy driving kills more than 1,500 Americans each year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and accounts for more than 100,000 reported car accidents, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary losses.
Fredericksburg sleep specialists are hoping to prevent further tragedies by raising awareness of the problem during national Drowsy Driving Prevention Week.
From noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday, certified sleep technicians from the Mary Washington Hospital Sleep and Wake Disorders Center will dole out information
"Everyone is at risk, especially in Virginia," said registered sleep technician Diana Per-kins. "Commuters are a huge demographic. People go to sleep at 10, 11 o'clock at night and wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning. That's just not enough sleep, and they need to know that."
Though Virginia is one of two states that ban driving for more than 13 hours in any 24-hour period, the law is difficult to enforce.
Perkins, the sleep specialist, said her husband saw a drowsy driver drift over three lanes near Hampton Roads last July. The driver sideswiped a state police cruiser with a trooper sitting inside, sparking a small fire under the police vehicle and trapping the officer. The trooper survived, and the drowsy driver was arrested and charged with one count of reckless driving, Per-kins said.
"If you close your eyes when you're riding in a car, count to five and see how far you've gone, and look and see how many people you could possibly kill," Perkins said. "It might surprise you."
Drowsy driving can be caused by a number of factors, including sleep loss, undiagnosed sleep disorders, stress, depression and the consumption of sedating medication.
It can impair vision, reaction time and short-term memory, as well as affect mood and driving performance--resulting typically in one-person crashes into roadside objects or other vehicles.
Because 71 percent of adults in the United States drive a car to and from work, the National Sleep Foundation says, there is a large risk of fatigue in early commuting hours and after long work shifts.
While caffeine or other stimulants may help keep a driver awake and aware, specialists advise pulling over to the side of the road to nap for at least 10 to 15 minutes if a full night's sleep is not possible.
"We need to get our death rate down," Perkins said. "We need to have safer drivers on the roads, and we all need to do everything we can to achieve it. There are child safety seats, drunk-driving laws and child locks on doors, but we need awareness to make sure that Virginians, as well as everyone else, aren't driving drowsy."
Stephanie Breijo:
Email: sbreijo@freelancestar.com
