Drowsy Driving Kills – Here’s How You Can Stay Alert Behind the Wheel

Posted in: Serious Personal Injury | May 08,2019

Image result for drowsy drivingDrowsy driving is a deadly, and often underestimated, killer on Indiana roads. We have all been guilty of driving while fatigued at some time or the other. These behaviors can be extremely dangerous to your life as well as the lives of those sharing the road with you.

There is enough evidence to show that drowsy driving is far more common than we think. The American Sleep Foundation estimates that as many as 50 percent of motorists consistently get behind the wheel when they are fatigued or sleepy.

As many as 20 percent of motorists admit that they have fallen asleep while driving at least once over the previous 12 months.

Putting an exact figure to the number of persons who have been injured or killed in drowsy driving accidents is difficult, because there are no tests that can identify drowsiness as a crash factor. Unlike breathalyzers or blood tests, there are no tests that can confirm that a person was indeed drowsy or sleepy at the time of the accident. However, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety estimates that as many as 328,000 accidents are linked to drowsy drivers ever year.

Defensive driving can keep you safe. Learn to recognize signs that a driver around you is fatigued or drowsy. Typically, a drowsy driver will have difficulty sticking to his own lane. If you see a motorist careening between lanes frequently and having difficulty staying within his lane, you may be sharing the road with a drowsy driver. A drowsy driver may also drive erratically, slowing and speeding up randomly. He may also speed, and is also very likely to break traffic lights because he is fatigued and his tired mind cannot register the signals.

Drowsy drivers also often end up driving the wrong way. Many of the driving behaviors that drowsy drivers exhibit are those shared by drunk drivers. The level of impairment of motorists in both cases is comparable.

If you or a loved one have been injured in an accident caused because of a drowsy driver, talk to an Indianapolis car accident lawyer at Montross Miller.

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