A new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety explores the relationship between drowsy driving and motor vehicle crashes — finding 9.5% of drivers involved in crashes to be classified as drowsy.
by Staff
February 9, 2018
Photo via John Gillespie/Flickr.
2 min to read
Photo via John Gillespie/Flickr.
A new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety explores the relationship between drowsy driving and motor vehicle crashes — finding 9.5% of drivers involved in crashes to be classified as drowsy. Of the 589 crashes studied, 56 drivers were rated as drowsy over the three minutes immediately prior to the crash.
Drowsiness was identified in 8.8% to 9.5% of all crashes examined and 10.6% to 10.8% of crashes that resulted in significant property damage, airbag deployment, or injury.
Ad Loading...
The study — "Prevalence of Drowsy Driving Crashes: Estimates from a Large-Scale Naturalistic Driving Study" — also found that a high proportion of crashes (54.4%) involved drivers under the age of 25, though this population was deliberately oversampled.
Drowsiness varied significantly in relation to lighting conditions. For example, drowsiness was evident in over three times the proportion of crashes in darkness as in daylight. Moreover, half of the crashes that involved drowsiness occurred in darkness.
The study draws on data from the federally funded Second Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study.
It assesses drowsiness in 3,593 drivers using a validated method — the PERCLOS measure, which is the percentage of time that a person’s eyes are closed over a defined measurement period. Drivers from six sites around the U.S. were monitored continually via in-vehicle cameras and other data collection between October of 2010 and December of 2013.
While official U.S. government statistics indicate that only 1% to 2% of all crashes involve drowsy driving, this new study suggests the problem may be a far greater.
AI-powered inspections are transforming last-mile fleets by replacing manual checks with highly accurate automated scans that detect defects in seconds. By giving fleet operations visibility into the daily condition of their vehicles, you can identify trends over the vehicle’s lifecycle that enable improved procurement decisions, route management, driver training and accountability.
Still managing your motor pool with spreadsheets and manual approvals? Loyola University replaced outdated processes with automated fleet management, eliminating overtime and saving up to $50,000 annually. See how they did it.
48% of field service leaders are investing in AI to manage customer communication and self-service. Get the latest on how fleets are using AI and thinking about the future.
This video features a reminder from the Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, urging drivers to prioritize safety this Halloween.
