Nodding off at the wheel is a health care problem -- just talk to the drivers who do it. University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research officials say drivers who work night shifts, long hours or more than one job are at greater risk of being in a crash caused by falling asleep at the wheel.
They say sleeping less than six hours per night, being awake for 20 hours or longer and driving between midnight and 6 a.m. also figure into accidents. Dr. Jane Stutts says the center has finished the first study that actually includes talking to drivers involved in drowsy-driver accidents rather than relying on statistics or police reports.
She says drivers in sleep and fatigue-related crashes are four to five times more likely than drivers in a control crash group to work the night shift. The study finds 27 percent worked 60 or more hours a week, compared to 17 percent of the drivers in the control group, and drivers in sleep-related crashes were nearly twice as likely to work more than one job.
Researchers say fatigue crash drivers average more than a half hour less sleep per night than controls, are twice as likely to get too little sleep and suffer from extreme sleepiness during the day. They often are not aware of how sleepy they are and are three times as likely to rate their sleep as "poor."
Reviewed July 2008
