A new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association points out that nearly 83.5 million sleep-deprived Americans are driving every day. And it’s taking a toll – an estimated 5,000 lives were lost in drowsy driving-relating crashes last year. The extreme danger posed by tired drivers has prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to expand its definition of impaired driving to include not only drunk, drugged and distracted, but also drowsy.
The agency revealed the annual societal cost of fatigue-related fatal and injury crashes is a staggering $109 billion, not including property damage.
The bottom line is this: make sure you get plenty of sleep at night. If you feel yourself getting drowsy while driving, pull over to a safe area such as a parking lot and take a short nap.
