Falling short on sleep can greatly up a driver’s accident risk
Failing to get enough sleep: It’s something that has happened to pretty much everyone at one point or another. One might be tempted to think that missing an hour here or there of sleep really doesn’t matter that much. However, what a person does when they are short on sleep can have some very big implications.
For example, if they get behind the wheel in such condition, they might pose a significant danger to their own safety and well-being and that of others. A recent report indicates that not getting enough sleep in a 24-hour period is associated with higher crash rates.
The report looked at a federal crash survey to compare the crash likelihood of drivers with different levels of sleep. It found that the likelihood of being involved in a crash was significantly higher for drivers who got under seven hours of sleep in the preceding 24-hour period. Drivers with five or six hours of sleep saw about a two-fold increase in likelihood, while those with four or five hours saw about a four-fold increase.
As this illustrates, things that some people might view as being relatively minor, like a driver missing an hour or two of sleep in a day, can have some significant impacts on traffic safety. So, there are all kinds of little details it can be important for drivers to think about when deciding if it is safe to get behind the wheel.
Little details can also end up mattering quite a bit in personal injury cases brought by car accident victims, like victims of drowsy driving crashes. Such details could have implications on what options and challenges could be present for the victims in such cases. Skilled car accident lawyers understand the critical role careful investigations of the details of an accident can play in compensation matters connected to crashes, and can help accident victims in Nebraska and Iowa with such investigations.
Source: NET Nebraska, “Drivers Beware: Crash Rate Spikes With Every Hour Of Lost Sleep,” Allison Aubrey, Dec. 5, 2016
