Credit: National Safety Council According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 25 adult drivers report having fallen asleep while driving, and many more admit to driving when they were sleep-deprived. These startling figures show how prevalent drowsy driving is. What drivers may not realize is how drowsy driving puts them – and others – at risk. In fact, an estimated 6,400 people die annually in crashes involving drowsy driving, according to the National Sleep Foundation. Impact of Drowsiness on Driving Driving while drowsy is like driving under influence of alcohol: Drivers’ reaction times, awareness of hazards and ability to sustain attention all worsen the drowsier the driver ● Driving after going more than 20 hours without sleep is the equivalent of driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08%– the U.S. legal limit A driver might not even know when he or she is fatigued because signs of fatigue are hard to identify. Some people may also experience micro-sleep – short, involuntary periods of inattention. In the 4 or 5 seconds a driver experiences micro-sleep, at highway speed, the vehicle will travel the length of a football field. Prevalence of Drowsy Driving Crashes It can be difficult to know how many…

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