You feel tired as you drive home from work. You keep going, though, because you’re used to it. You remember some late-night drives home when you were in college. You always made it safely. Now, since you often work the night shift, you drive while you’re tired more often than not.
But are you actually in more danger than you realize?
You probably are. Did you know that 795 people died in drowsy driving accidents back in 2017? Those are the most current statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and they show you just how dangerous drowsy driving can really be.
And that’s just for deadly accidents. Overall, NHTSA believes that about 50,000 people suffered injuries in these accidents. They also note that police responded to about 91,000 drowsy driving accidents in total.
That’s a staggering number. Think about how many people must be driving when they’re tired if nearly 100,000 of them got into accidents.
Part of the problem is that people do assume that drowsy driving is safe. They roll down the windows. They turn up the radio. They try to stay awake just a bit longer. They do not understand that being so tired means they really need to pull over and take a nap before they get back on the road.
Now that you know some of the statistics, and you understand the scope of the issue, maybe you will refrain from drowsy driving in the future. Unfortunately, you can still get injured when another driver hits you. If that happens, you may need to seek compensation for medical bills and other costs.
