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The scope of the drowsy driving problem in the US is staggering. Data collected by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration indicate that at least 15 million drivers nationwide have nodded off or fallen asleep while driving in the past six months. That equates to more than eighty thousand drivers in the nation falling asleep at the wheel every day, or about one every second throughout day and night, endangering themselves, their families, and their fellow citizens. The outcome of those fall-asleep episodes is sobering. More than half of those drowsy drivers wandered into another lane, drifted onto the shoulder, or drove across the centerline during the incident. In another 10 percent of these incidents, the driver ran off the road. In fact, an estimated 1,350,000 drivers nationwide were involved in a drowsy-driving-related crash in the past five years – that is 30 drowsy driver crashes per hour or one every 2 minutes. Yet this nation, which has laws in all 50 states and spends over $300 million annually on education regarding the hazards of drinking and driving, spends about 0.1 percent of that amount on education related to drowsy driving. Moreover, only the state of New Jersey has explicitly established as a crime “driving after more than 24 hours of wakefulness,” although other states have convicted drowsy drivers under more general statutes regarding driver impairment. In response to a request for advice from Massachusetts State Senator Richard Moore, Dr. Sonia Ancoli-Israel established an SRS Presidential Task Force on Sleep and Public Policy. Based on the recommendations of the SRS Task Force on Sleep and Public Policy, which was chaired by Charles A. Czeisler, PhD, MD and included David F. Dinges, PhD, Lawrence Epstein, MD, Christopher P. Landrigan, MD, MPH, James Walsh, PhD, the SRS Board endorsed model Drowsy Diving legislation. This legislation is just as important to raising societal awareness of this issue as drunk driving legislation was to that hazard 50 years ago.
On this web page we have gathered information to aid individuals working towards passing Drowsy Driving Legislation and Education efforts.
- A document detailing efforts to pass this legislation in Massachusetts in 2006 and offering suggestions for how SRS members may proceed in their states.
- Links to current legislation in Massachusetts and New Jersey
- References for drowsy and impaired driving and accident statistics
- Links to the SRS Online Community section of this website so that members can communicate with each other on this issue. Use the “Government Affairs” topic
The Sleep Research Society supports passage of Drowsy Driving Legislation across the United States. If you are interested in joining this initiative and/or working on Drowsy Driving Legislation, please:
(1) send your contact information to John Slater (Jslater@srsnet.org) and
(2) join the Discussion group within the SRS Online Community section on the SRS website.
Charles A. Czeisler PhD MD
Past President, SRS
President, SRS Foundation
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Elizabeth B. Klerman MD PhD
Chair, Communications Committee, SRS
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