Tired Drivers Not Much Safer Than Drunken Ones

According to police reports, 355 of those drivers studied were at fault, and the highest risk factors were alcohol use, fatigue, and being between 18 and 29 years old.

A

study out of France shows that drivers who were sleepy or drunk were at least twice as likely to cause a crash as those who were sober and had enough rest.

Led by Nicholas Moore, researchers at the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Bordeaux analyzed the information of 679 drivers who'd been admitted to the hospital for a stay of greater than 24 hours due to a car accident between 2007 and 2009. The researchers used data from driver questionnaires and police reports. Drivers self-reported on medication and alcohol use along with how tired they were, while files indicated blood-alcohol levels.

Driving while tired isn't very safe—and at least one study backs up that assertion.

The majority of those studied were males under 55. More than a half were on motorcycles, one-third were in a car, and 10 percent were riding a bicycle at the time their accidents occurred.

According to police reports, 355 of those drivers studied were at fault, and the highest risk factors were alcohol use, fatigue, and being between 18 and 29 years old.

"We know from experimental studies that just four hours of sleep loss will produce as much impairment as a six pack (of beer)," said Christopher Drake, an associate scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Disorders and Research Center in Detroit, told Reuters. "If you have a whole night of sleep loss, that's equivalent to having a blood alcohol content of 0.19," said Drake. Drake was not part of the study.

This doesn’t surprise us in the least—driving while tired is dangerous. Now we have some numbers to back up that assertion.

Get some rest!

[Source: Reuters]