It is extremely important that Americans understand the hazards and potential tragedies of drowsy driving. Each year, thousands of people are injured or die as a result of car crashes caused by driving while sleepy. Most people are aware of the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol, but more education is needed to communicate the grave dangers of drowsy driving, which is an all-too-common occurrence.
The National Sleep Foundation’s (NSF) first-ever “Drowsy Driving Prevention Week” kicks off the year-long campaign. NSF has created a consumer-friendly and very comprehensive collection of resources easily available for download. These educational resources include fact sheets, print PSAs, radio scripts, press releases, posters, flyers and much more. Visit www.DrowsyDriving.org to review the breadth of information available.
While you are on the site, you can read first-hand moving memorials and testimonials to those whose lives have been impacted by drowsy driving tragedies. These sad and poignant pieces truly hit home.
NSF is extremely committed to this cause. Education about drowsy driving prevention WILL save lives.
Sleep apnea may be common in truckers
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: Wednesday, 14. November 2007
Many commercial truck drivers who ride on crowded highways have a fatigue-causing sleep disorder, say scientists at the Sleep Research Center of Stanford University School of Medicine in the USA.
Stanford researchers found that 78 per cent of 159 commercial long-haul truck drivers in a study had the condition, an incidence rate three times greater than the general population.
The condition is called obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder that can interrupt sleep hundreds of times a night, resulting in heavy fatigue during waking hours.
"When 78 per cent of the people coming toward you on the road in 40-tonne trucks have such a disorder, you have a problem," says psychiatrist William Dement, director of the Sleep Research Centre and senior author of the study.
Reference:
Stoohs, R.A., Bingham, L., Itoi, A., Guilleminault, C., & Dement, W.C.
Sleep and sleep disordered breathing in commercial long-haul truck drivers.
Chest 107:1275-1283, 1995.
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