Do Those Driving With Too Little Sleep Really The Cause of Many Accidents?

There are many causes of serious motor vehicle accidents that receive lots of publicity and attention from federal traffic safety regulators.  However, there is a leading cause of collisions that contributes to devastating personal injuries and wrongful death which receives far less attention – sleepy drivers.  The slow economy has led to economic hardships for many Georgia families so that motorists often work two part-time jobs, which in many cases means more total time away from home.  These long hours devoted to employment add to the fatigue and exhaustion of also handling household and parenting responsibilities.  All of this translates into drivers operating motor vehicles with very limited amounts of sleep.

Sleepy drivers who are fatigued and struggling to focus their attention on the road may be as dangerous as or even more dangerous than intoxicated or distracted drivers.  Our Atlanta personal injury law firm is committed to improving public awareness regarding motor vehicle safety, which is the impetus for our many public service campaigns, which include Help Keep Kids Safe, Don’t Text and Drive, Don’t Drink and Drive, our Teen Driving Initatives, our Child Booster Seat/Car Seat campaign, our Free Car Safety Checks, and many others.  We recognize that sleepy driving is an issue about which people do not receive as much information so we have provided answers to basic questions about accidents caused by overtired drivers in this four-part blog series.

Do those driving with too little sleep really cause many car crashes?

The increasing demands on people’s limited available hours during the day have reduced available discretionary time so that many drivers operate a car, truck or SUV when they have not had enough sleep to drive safely.  The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a study in which it found that over forty percent of all drivers admitted operating a motor vehicle while they were so drowsy that they fell asleep behind the wheel.  Ten percent of those who participated in the study admitted that they had dozed off while driving within the preceding twelve month period.  Anyone with questions about whether this issue with lack of sleep occurs frequently enough to cause many traffic accidents should consider that one in four of those asked indicated that they had operated a motor vehicle during the previous one month period while so exhausted that they struggled to keep their eyes open. 

If you or a family member suffers injury or you lose a loved one because of a sleepy driver, an experienced Georgia car accident lawyer at Montlick and Associates is available to provide effective legal representation to those throughout all of Georgia and the Southeast, including but not limited to Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Gainesville, Macon, Marietta, Rome, Roswell, Savannah, Smyrna, Valdosta, Warner Robins and all smaller cities and rural areas in the state.  

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