Sleep Disorders Center Warns Of Risks Of Driving While Tired

DANBURY — About 4 percent of all traffic crash fatalities each year are a direct cause of driver fatigue or falling asleep at the wheel.

At least 71,000 people are injured in fall-asleep crashes each year, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in Washington, DC. A scarier statistic yet is that 62 percent of all adults surveyed last year by the NSF reported driving a car while feeling drowsy in the prior year. Twenty-seven percent reported that they had, at some time, dozed off while driving, and 23 percent said that they know someone who experienced a fall-asleep crash recently.

“With today’s busy lives, and all with that there is to do, people sacrifice sleep first,” says Arthur Kotch, MD, associate director of pulmonary medicine and medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Danbury Hospital. This week, Danbury Hospital joins forces with the NSF to raise awareness for driving alert during National Sleep Awareness Week, March 27 through April 2. Under the theme “Drive Alert, Arrive Alive,” Danbury Hospital is urging all area drivers to take stock of their driving habits.

“Although there are medical causes for excessive sleepiness such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea, the most common cause of excessive sleepiness in this country is insufficient sleep,” said Dr Kotch. Drowsiness and fatigue may also play a role in crashes that are attributed to other causes. According to the NSF, drivers tend to tire more on high-speed, long, boring, or rural highways. As many as 30 percent of all crashes on the New York State Thruway are thought to have occurred because the driver fell asleep at the wheel.

Concerned about the number of fatigue-related truck and bus crashes on the nation’s highways, in February, the NSF released a position statement calling for new hours-of-service rules for commercial drivers based on scientific research regarding sleep.

Citing studies on fatigue, driving performance, and fall-asleep crashes, NSF is urging the Department of Transportation (DOT) to adopt a comprehensive system placing responsible limits on driving within a 24-hour period and mandating on-board monitoring and enforcement by compliance officers. NSF’s position statement also calls for highway improvements, as well as sleep disorder screening and comprehensive educational programs to reduce fall-asleep crashes among commercial drivers.