How does drowsiness impact safety?

When a driver hits the road, it is up to them to maintain safety precautions in order to keep themselves and other drivers from getting into crashes. Some dangers seem easier to avoid than others, though.

For example, many drivers do not even seem aware of the fact that drowsiness can and does impact driver safety on a whole. In fact, it actually poses as much danger as texting while driving.

The effects of drowsiness

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration takes a look at drowsiness and how it impacts drivers. In terms of how drowsiness affects people physically, it often manifests in a way similar to intoxication. Drowsy drivers struggle with reflexes, attention, reaction times and processing times. They often cannot identify dangers quickly and struggle to react to the ones they do notice.

However, unlike intoxicated driving, many people view drowsy driving as a simple fact of life. After all, how many people have woken up late for work after a terrible night of sleep and driven to their job anyway?

How do drivers treat it?

But this treatment of drowsy driving might actually contribute to its high fatality risks. If everyone falsely believes that drowsy driving is not a danger, more people engage in it. If more people engage in it, fewer drivers on the road have full control over their faculties. This can dramatically increase the chances of a crash happening.

This is why so many safety experts currently work to spread the word of how dangerous drowsy driving actually is for drivers. By increasing awareness, the rate of accidents will hopefully decrease over time.