In a recent study, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reviewed dashboard video from 700 accidents and found that 9.5% of all crashes involved drowsy drivers, based on the portion of time the drivers’ eyes were closed in the minutes before a crash.
The study, described as the most in-depth ever conducted on drowsy driving, recruited 3,593 drivers from six places across the country who allowed cameras to be placed in their cars for several months at a time from October 2010 to December 2013.
“As many Americans struggle to balance their busy schedules, missing a few hours of sleep each day can often seem harmless,” said Jake Nelson, AAA’s director of traffic safety advocacy and research. “But missing just two to three hours of sleep can more than quadruple your risk for a crash, which is the equivalent of driving drunk.”
Read the article at USA Today.