Drive safe ya'll!! Labor Day weekend next week!

Overlooked Driving Dangers Take Toll On The Roads

With more than 30 million Americans expected to hit the roads this Labor Day weekend, there's much more for drivers to worry about than high gas prices and congested highways, warns The Vision Council and the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). The organizations are joining forces to educate the nation about two under-recognized driving hazards, poor vision and drowsy driving, that are just as deadly as poor road conditions and drunk driving, especially at night.

According to a recent survey, Shedding Light on Driving in the Dark, respondents complained of eyestrain (38 percent), dry or tired eyes (34 percent), fatigue (25 percent) and an inability to focus (18 percent) while driving at night. In addition, both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Safety Council cite the fatality rate at nighttime (6:00 P.M. - 6:00 A.M.) to be three times higher than the daytime rate.

>snip<

addition, the 2008 Sleep in America Poll found that 64 percent of drivers who work at least 30 hours per week report they have driven a vehicle while feeling drowsy in the past year, and more than one-third, 36 percent, have actually fallen asleep at the wheel. Sleep-related crashes are most common in young people, especially men, shift workers, commercial drivers, and people with untreated sleep disorders. NHTSA conservatively estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue each year. This results in an estimated 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and $12.5 billion in monetary losses each year.

"Most people are aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, but are unaware that driving drowsy can be just as fatal," said Darrel Drobnich, chief program officer at NSF. "In fact, traffic safety and sleep experts believe that drowsy driving is much more common than even federal statistics indicate."