Driving while drowsy – just as deadly
The dangers of drunk driving are well known, but more precautions are beginning to focus on an equally hazardous condition: driving drowsy. Often, tired drivers do not realize the risk they are taking by getting behind the wheel fatigued.
Road signs reading “Drowsy Drivers use next exit” and “No Fatigued Driving” are used to caution tired drivers to pull over.
“People have this assumption that it will happen to somebody else. For some reason they think they can drive when they are fatigued and that somehow they won’t fall asleep,” said David Bush, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) director.
The reality of drowsy driving fatalities hits close to home for the CAPS staff. Mary Doty, former director of the program, passed away in August 2009 in a head-on collision with a driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. The driver drifted into her lane and she was killed on impact.
Bush remembers the staff coming together over her death. He said they rallied around one other.
“We really supported each other,” he said. “We realized what kind of a positive impact she had on everyone. Fortunately, because of the person Mary was, there were never any negative feelings toward (the driver). Everybody was worried about how he was doing,” Bush said. “We knew she would be the first to forgive. She would never hold negative feelings toward anyone.”
Bush said Doty’s specialty was dealing with trauma.
“Her whole life’s work was helping people deal with trauma. If anybody would have stepped forward to help this man, she would have been the first to volunteer,” he said.
Bush said Doty would have wanted the community to understand and realize the seriousness of driving fatigued.
“It is as serious as drunk driving,” he said.
Last year, Doty was recognized as an exceptional woman.
“It gave us a chance to celebrate her life,” Bush said.
Of drowsy driving, he said, “Having had a personal experience and almost killing my family, I can tell you: It can happen to anyone.”
Years ago, he said, he was driving with his wife Cathy and baby daughter around Christmas time. His wife and daughter had both fallen asleep and he felt himself getting tired.
He said the next thing he knew, he had over-corrected and was headed into oncoming traffic, sending the car into a spin before they finally straightened out.
“I tapped the break and it turned me around,” he said. “At this point, Cathy was awake. I finally got the car in control and on the side of the road.”
“I realized if I had killed my wife or my baby, I would never be able to forgive myself,” Bush said. “Ever since then, whenever I get sleepy, I pull over because you just never know, it happens so fast.”
According to drowsydriving.org, sleepiness has similar effects to alcohol consumption.
“Sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness, impairs judgment and increases your risk of crashing,” the site reads.
Several states are proposing legislation to charge drowsy drivers with criminal negligence.
Danny Munoz, a junior in political science, is more grateful about life after his near-fatal drowsy driving accident.
He said as he neared his exit on a Saturday morning around 1:45 a.m., he began to doze off and was about to pull off to the side of the road.
“I just remember waking up mid-roll right before the front (of my car) smashed into a tree,” Munoz said. He was the only one in the car and incurred no serious injuries.
“My seat belt saved my life,” he said.
He said he advises against driving drowsy.
“Remember the buddy system was made for a reason,” he said.
Lyndi Jenson, a junior in business administration, also experienced a close call. She said she was busy at the time, working two jobs and going to school. She said her second job was in Layton and she commuted back and forth from Logan every Sunday.
She said on her way to work on a Sunday morning, after a late night, she turned up her music and sang loudly to keep herself awake.
“My eyes were probably only closed for 10 seconds, but I opened them right as I was drifting into a truck in the next lane,” she said. “When I got to work, I put in my two weeks.”
Jensen said she made this sacrifice because it was not worth it to drive drowsy every week.
Rachel Mertlich, a sophomore in elementary education, realized she could have caused an accident after driving fatigued. She said she felt like she was asleep and woke up when she got home.
“I do not remember anything but getting in my car and then pulling up to my driveway,” she said. “I was real scared afterward when I realized I could have died or hit someone. I was thinking I should have pulled over.”
According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation, 60 percent of adult drivers have driven while feeling drowsy and 37 percent have actually fallen asleep while driving in the past year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimated 100,000 drowsy driving-related crashes occur each year, leading to 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in financial losses. But these numbers could be just “the tip of the iceberg,” according to drowsydriving.org. The site attributes these conservative estimations to the difficulty in attributing crashes to sleepiness –there is no breathalyzer for exhaustion.
The National Sleep Foundation provides suggested steps to avoid accidents. Before hitting the road, the site recommends getting adequate sleep, scheduling proper breaks (about every 100 miles or every two hours), arranging for a travel companion and avoiding alcohol and sedating medications.
If these precautions are taken and the driver still feels drowsy, the foundation says to stop driving, take a nap, drink a caffeinated beverage and to be aware of rumble strips.
Rumble strips were first used in 1952 on the New Jersey Turnpike. These deep grooves on high-speed roads were made to “alert drowsy drivers and prevent them from veering off the roadway,” according to the National Sleep Foundation site. These strips “have proven to be one of the most effective measures in decreasing drowsy driving,” the site states.
The foundation recommends drowsy drivers who recognize their symptoms should find a safe place to pull over to prevent future accidents.
– natashabodily@aggiemail.usu.edu