Drowsy driving a factor in more accidents than previously thought

June 12, 2013

When you think of dangerous driving habits, you may think of distracted driving, which has received a lot of attention in the media lately. Although activities such as texting while driving contribute significantly to the number of car accidents on the road, a new study suggests that driver fatigue is a danger that is often overlooked by safety experts.

The driver fatigue study was conducted by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. For the study, data was collected from 100 commuters in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The study was unique because it was naturalistic, meaning that the commuter's driving behavior was studied in real time without the presence of the researchers.

In order to accomplish this naturalistic study, the researchers installed commuters' cars with video cameras, lane-tracking software and radar units. In addition to the original 100 participants, family and friends would also occasionally drive the car, so the driving habits of 132 additional drivers were also recorded for the study.

The study took place during 2003 and 2004. Upon completion of the monitoring of the vehicles, the researchers reviewed the data for adverse events such as car crashes, near misses, running stoplights or sudden application of brakes. They found that about 110,000 such events happened during the course of the study. Additionally, the researchers randomly viewed 20,000 events where there was no accident or near miss to look for evidence of driver fatigue.

Results of study

Before the results of the study were known, researchers estimated that driver fatigue only accounted for two to three percent of car accidents, based on prior data from surveys and driving simulators. However, the study's results showed that driving while fatigued was responsible for 20 percent of the car accidents and 16 percent of the near misses that occurred while the study took place. Even more surprising was that the study indicated that the majority of fatigue-related accidents took place during the day, not at night.

Young drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 caused the majority of fatigue-related accidents, the study found. Researchers attribute this to lifestyle choices, as young drivers are more likely to stay up late despite having to get up early for school or work. This type of lifestyle choice also increased the likelihood of driving drowsy during the daytime, researchers found.

Once the results of the study were extrapolated to the general population, researchers hypothesized that driver fatigue is responsible for about 12 percent of car accidents nationwide. Researchers estimated that drowsy driving quadruples the risk of a car accident.

An attorney can help

In California, if a driver causes an accident due to fatigue, he or she can be held liable for any injuries resulting from the accident. If you have been injured by a drowsy or distracted driver, contact an experienced personal injury attorney to learn about your right to compensation.

Article provided by Corsiglia McMahon & Allard, LLP
Visit us at www.cmalaw.net