Drowsy driving has long since been a noted issue that can impact driver safety in a big way. Across the board, time and time again, studies and statistics show the risk of drowsy driving.
Not only does it increase a person’s chances of getting into a crash, but it increases the risk for other drivers on the road, too.
The prevalence of rear-end crashes
The CDC discusses drowsiness in drivers and its overall impact on safety. Drowsiness actually has a similar impact on drivers as drunk or intoxicated driving. It cuts down on a driver’s abilities to identify dangers and react to them quickly and appropriately.
This is why many drunk driving incidents involve rear-end crashes. The driver ends up slamming into another one in front of them because they do not notice that the other driver has slowed or come to a stop until it is too late to brake.
How head-on crashes happen
Many other crashes are head-on collisions, too. This is often because of drivers falling asleep entirely at the wheel, or experiencing “micro-sleep” in which they may doze off for a few seconds at a time. This renders a driver completely incapable of reacting to the dangers around them. Some will drive straight through the median on a freeway and into oncoming traffic.
Drowsy drivers often get other people involved when they make mistakes on the road, which is why it is such a big deal that this problem persists to this day. Only through education and the stigmatization of drowsy driving will these crashes start to dwindle.