Mind-Blowing Statistic Of The Day: 41 Percent Of Drivers Have Fallen Asleep at The Wheel

by Edward Niedermeyer

Published: November 8th, 2010

mind blowing statistic of the day 41 percent of drivers have fallen asleep at the

Now, you can’t draw too many conclusions from a sample size of 2,000 people, but then when you see the results of a recent study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, you won’t want to even think about what your fellow Americans are doing in their cars. The scariest nuglet [via NYT]:

The report found that 41 percent of respondents admitted to falling asleep or nodding off while driving at some point in their lives. One in 10 acknowledged doing so in the past year. More than a quarter (27 percent) of those surveyed admitted that in the previous month they drove despite being so tired that they had difficulty keeping their eyes open.

OK, so we’ve all been tired at the end of a long drive. We’ve all felt that extreme stress of keeping… the… freaking… eyes… open.. for just a few… more.. miles. We’ve all cranked the stereo, downed a Red Bull, opened a window or sang at the top of our lungs in order to stay awake and get where we’re going… and it’s not surprising that 27 percent reached that stage in the last month. But 41 percent of drivers have actually nodded off, or physically closed their eyes while behind the wheel? Could this possibly be true? Or is this just National Sleep Foundation propaganda ginned up for Drowsy Driving Prevention Week (yes, really)? I know I’ve never nodded off behind the wheel… have you?

#Safety #Traffic

Edward Niedermeyer

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9 of 43 comments

Cdotson on Nov 09, 2010

I think my dad still has that LP... I've never fallen asleep, but I've had more than my share of "very long blinks" while drowsy. I've found that sunflower seeds (in the shell) help keep you active enough to stay concentrated on the road, although if you have high blood pressure they're probably not as good for you as the carrots. In college my wife had a friend whose fiancee was in the Navy and when he was in port he would make the 5-6 hour drive to visit her in college whenever he could, like if he had a 24 hour pass. He would essentially drive in lieu of sleep, and had black donuts on the side of his car from where he had bounced off some (moving) tractor-trailer tires going down the interstate while sleeping. One one of his trips racing back to his base he fell asleep and drifted into a Jersey barrier which tore off his front bumper cover, but he didn't notice that until the MPs wouldn't let him on base because his front license plate was missing.

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- Joeaverage on Nov 09, 2010
  
  The rushed trips home in the military probably generate alot of these stories. I drove from VA to Huntsville to see a girl I was dating. They got worried when I didn't show up one weekend. They found me asleep in my car in their driveway at about 2AM. Just going to catch a few winks so I'm awake when they answer the door. A couple of hours later... In retrospect it wasn't worth it. Errr - she wasn't worth it. Never appreciated the long hours I put in to spend time with her over special weekends or holidays. ERRRRG. On the other hand I married a REALLY great girl and still have her years later.
  
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- Nrd515 on Nov 11, 2010
  
  Carrots, gum, talking to myself, screaming, the radio, yelling at truckers on the CB, none of it worked. I took a whole BOTTLE of Vivarin once and other than making my stomach churning, it did nothing to keep me awake. I had a period in my early 20's where I was working a lot of hours, and since I have trouble sleeping at night (I'm 180 degrees off, I've always, since birth, wanted to sleep in the daytime), I was a mess. I fell asleep several times just walking! The day I took the Vivarin, I was working alone as the only security guard at the Las Vegas hotel I worked at. I had a bunch of lunatics coming in and causing trouble until about 10AM, but then it slowed down and I was a mess. I took about 4 of the Vivarin, and nothing happened, so I took more, and still nothing. I "stumbled" (Fell asleep walking to the front desk) and took the rest of it. About a half hour later, I had an employee hurt himself and I had to make out a report on the injury, and I couldn't do it. I was too sleepy. I locked myself in the office when another guard came in early, so I could do "paperwork", but I finally fell asleep for about an hour, and I was ok for the rest of the shift, but was right on the edge of falling asleep for the entire half hour ride home. When I got there, I took a shower, went to bed, and slept until 7AM, when I had to get up to go to work. That was the day I fell asleep while walking, and dumped $10K worth of chips on the floor, only losing $1. I said I just stumbled, and didn't admit I fell asleep.
  
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- Joeaverage on Nov 11, 2010
  
  nrd515 - you sound like the perfect 3rd shift employee! I did alot of 3rd shift military police work in the Navy. The shift was more interesting, the bosses were at home asleep, and things were either quiet or crazy (drunk Navy nitwits). We alternated months, a month of days, a month of nights. The night shift was always a little short handed so I always volunteered to stay nights. Might get 5-6 months of nights at a time. Found I could get by on 5 hours of sleep and still have a pretty good part of the day off to get outside. Then, one of the 7AM-4PM office types decided it would be better to have everyone alternate days and nights WEEKLY. WTF? People were falling asleep left and right, was hard on the family guys/gals, people had short fuses, people were wrecking the patrol cars (scrapes, dents, etc), our folks were even getting into more trouble off duty. Yeah, good idea daytimers! Finally things changed back. The fun part was working a night shift, off at 6AM but not home until 7:30 AM (shift change consumed some of our time off), getting home (25 min drive), getting into bed, and then having the door buzzer waking us up because one of the daytimers decided to have training from 9AM until say 2PM and then we'd be due back on duty that evening at 6PM for another 12 hour shift. People were plotting the daytimers' deaths...
  
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TR4 on Nov 09, 2010

Happened to me nearly 40 years ago. Ended up turned 180 in a ditch. Luckily the only damage was a crease in a rear fender of my MG Midget. Ever since I try like hell to avoid driving when drowsy. "Power naps" are a good thing. I've never understood the relative lenience the public (and LE) have toward drowsy driving as compared to alcohol impaired driving. A drunk driver has poor judgement and slow reaction times but a sleeping driver has NO judgement and NO reactions.

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- Syke on Nov 09, 2010
  
  It's because there's no organization called Mothers Against Sleepy Drivers. Alcohol is a screaming evil. Lack of sleep, cell phones, etc., aren't considered as dangerous. Besides, it's a lot harder to ticket for lack of sleep compared to blood alcohol level.
  
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Syke on Nov 09, 2010

Never had the problem in a car, as I'm very quick to pull over and take a half hour catnap any time the eyes start to get heavy. About a decade and a half ago, however, I was shocked to realize that you could fall asleep on a motorcycle. It was about 2300 on a summer night and I was two-thirds of the way through a 500 mile trip from Johnstown, PA to Acton, MA to see the then-new girlfriend. I actually dozed off, and only came to a split-second before leaving the pavement at about 75mph. Scared the bejeezus out of me, to say the least.

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- Golden2husky on Nov 09, 2010
  
  Woke your ass right up, didn't it!!
  
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Rpn453 on Nov 09, 2010

I'm amazed I haven't ever fallen asleep at the wheel. I've been close many times, and always said I'd never drive in that condition again. Many family members and friends have fallen asleep and some even woke up in the ditch, but fortunately the worst damage between all of them was about $3000 worth of body damage after scraping a highway sign. As others have noted, it usually happens on an empty stretch of road.

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