Archive for January 21st, 2013

Buffalo Residents Speak Out About Drowsy Driving Dangers

21
Jan 2013
By:

Recently, WICU Channel 12 interviewed individuals in Buffalo who were filling up their gas tanks near I90. The subject of the interview, drowsy driving, was prompted by a new study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC study was an ambitious project, the largest study ever conducted on the subject of driver fatigue. Our Buffalo accident attorneys, like many, are concerned with what the results of the CDC study show and we were interested to hear first-hand how Buffalo residents felt about drowsy driving.

Unfortunately, according to WICU, residents seemed to accept drowsy driving as a part of the risk of being behind the wheel. One resident compared the dangers of drowsy drivers to the dangers presented by drunk drivers, indicating that you can’t ever tell when someone who is on the road is dozing off or impaired by alcohol. The comparison was an appropriate one, since studies have shown that a person who is driving after not having slept for around 20-21 hours is as severely impaired in his driving ability as someone whose blood alcohol level has reached the legal limit of .08.

Why Drivers in Buffalo are Concerned About Drowsy Driving

Drivers interviewed by WICU indicated that it was important to stay back and steer clear of drowsy drivers because these drivers may not behave in a rationale or safe way. A drowsy driver may not be paying attention to what other drivers around are doing. The drowsy driver may not be as quick to stop the car or to react to changes in traffic signals or other cars pulling out in front. In a worst-case scenario, the drowsy driver might even fall asleep entirely and put himself and others at a very serious risk of becoming involved in a car wreck.

Sleeping drivers may not be something that the average driver is too concerned about, since many people assume that no one would keep driving if they were actually falling asleep behind the wheel. The CDC survey, however, tells a different story. According to the survey, just over 4 percent of all drivers that responded to the CDC’s questions indicated that they had closed their eyes (at least for a few seconds) and fallen asleep as they drove during the 30 days immediately preceding the survey. The numbers of men engaged in drowsy driving was even higher, as was the number of drivers in the 18-44 group, who had a drowsy driving ratio of over 5 percent of drivers.

The CDC study is scary, considering the fact that there are more than 100 drivers on the road at most times of the day. It confirms earlier data about the widespread dangers of drowsy driving, but it is important because it is the largest and most comprehensive study on the subject of drowsy driving with over 147,000 survey respondents from across 19 states and D.C.   The data shows that these Buffalo residents interviewed at the gas station off of I90 are right to be concerned, and that every other driver on the road should also be concerned too.

If you’ve been injured in a drowsy driving accident in Buffalo or the surrounding area, contact the Law Offices of James Morris today for a free consultation to discuss your rights. Call 800-477-9044.