MOST PEOPLE STILL DRIVE WHEN THEY’RE TIRED

October 7, 2015
dhdlaw

Studies have shown that the majority of Americans are willing to drive when they’re tired. When the National Sleep Foundation asked people in 2005 if they drove when they were currently feeling drowsy, a full 60 percent claimed they done it in just the past 12 months. At the time, that meant around 168 million people had driven when they were feeling tired.

On top of that, the study found that 37 percent of those asked, or 103 million people, had even been so tired they’d nodded off, falling asleep at the wheel. About 13 percent had not only done this in the previous year, but continued to do it each month.

This is a huge issue because one of the biggest reasons that commercial drivers are involved in accidents is because they’re too tired. The industry has set regulations for how often drivers can be on the job and how many hours they can work, but not all drivers follow these regulations.

Additionally, some drivers are worried to tell their employers that they can’t drive because they’re too tired. They may have been threatened with termination if they don’t keep working. Therefore, some drivers will stay on the road even when they don’t want to, when they know that it isn’t safe, just because they feel they have to risk their own lives—and the lives of other drivers—in order to keep their jobs.

Have you been involved in an accident with a driver who nodded off or who was just too tired to drive safely? If so, you may be able to seek compensation for your injuries in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Source: Drowsy Driving, “Facts and Stats,” accessed Oct. 07, 2015