The percentage of teens who drink and drive has decreased by more than 50% since 1991, in part due to the work of advocacy groups such as MADD, SADD, and others, and in part due to extensive targeted educational programming. However there are other “dangers” that contribute to the following statistics from the CDC: •
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“In 2014, 2,270 teens in the United States ages 16–19 were killed and 221,313 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. That translates to six teens ages 16–19 who died every day from motor vehicle injuries.” “The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among 16-19-year-olds than among any other age group. In fact, per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash.”
While the effects of age versus experience are difficult to tease apart, one of the leading causes of accidents among teen drivers is driving while drowsy, also known as “fatigued driving”. This is a well-studied and welldocumented problem that does not often get the popular attention that it needs, in order to be addressed.
Drivers Are Aware of when they really are too tired to drive. Williamson, A., and colleagues (2014) tested the hypothesis of whether drivers have access to cognitive information about their current state of sleepiness, likelihood of falling asleep, and the implications for driving performance and the likelihood of crashing. Basically, can a driver tell when to pull over and sleep? With their study of 90 participants, they found that participants who rated themselves as sleepy or likely to fall asleep had a more than 9 time increase in the hazards of crossing the centerline compared to those who rated themselves as alert. Drivers CAN detect changes in their levels of sleepiness sufficiently to make a safe decision to stop driving due to sleepiness, but do not stop for multiple reasons.
Young Adult Drivers are particularly at risk for fatiguerelated accidents. They often have chronic sleep loss, and drive at times when they are most tired. Smith and colleagues (2005), as well as others recommend education and focused interventions aimed at stopping young adults, and specifically teens from driving when they feel sleepy. Accidents happen, and the first year of driving is the time when there is a significantly higher rate of accidents. For most drivers, this happens during their teens. However, just as teen culture recognizes the importance of driving sober, they also must learn to not drive sleepy. (This goes for their parents too!)
Several studies have found the following:
Physical Characteristics Impaired by driving while fatigued include heart rate, reaction time to light, systolic blood pressure, and reaction time to sound. These characteristics overlap with those found with people who drive while intoxicated. This 2014 study by Zhang, X., and colleagues provides evidence that indeed a driver's physical characteristics will be impaired more seriously when s/he continues driving while drowsy, compared to driving when not drowsy, leading to more accidents.
References: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). (2014). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Fatality facts: teenagers 2014. Arlington (VA): The Institute. Scott-Parker, B., Watson, B., King, MJ, & Hyde, MK (2014). “I drove after drinking alcohol” and other risky driving behaviours reported by young novice drivers”. Accident; Analysis and Prevention, vol 70, 65-73. Smith, S., Carrington, M., & Trinder, J. (2005). Subjective and predicted sleepiness while driving in young adults. Accident; Analysis and Prevention, vol 37(6),1066-73. Williamson, A., Friswell, R., Olivier, J., & Grzebieta, R. (2014). Are drivers aware of sleepiness and increasing crash risk while driving? Accident; Analysis and Prevention, vol 70, 225-34. Zhang, X., Zhao, X., Du, H., & Rong, J. (2014). A study on the effects of fatigue driving and drunk driving on drivers’ physical characteristics. Traffic Injury Prevention, vol 15(8), 801-8.
St. Louis Jewish Parents
DEC 2016
29