Drowsy Driving Research Paper

Let me tell you that the majority of automobile accidents in America results from alcohol. The alcohol consumed will be existed in blood and it is known as Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC). In this condition, someone will experience lowered alertness which can cause someone to loss of judgement and reduce their ability to track moving object. Beside lowered alertness, the muscle control will be lessened causing difficulty steering and less ability to maintain lane position and brake appropriately. People in a state of drunkenness are also hard to detect danger. It may reduce their response to emergency driving situations.

The effects of alcohol include blurred or double vision, impaired attention and slowed reflexes. Your life and the lives of others can change forever if you drive after drinking alcohol.

This lack of rest contributes to distraction while driving, which can cause accidents. Other common scenarios in which the employer might be held at least partially responsible for a truck accident include:

According to Vila (2006), data through the year 2003 indicated that more officers were killed by “unattended adverse events than during the commission of felonies.” Fatigue resulting from reduced sleep, both in duration and quality, is a significant factor in unintentional injuries and fatalities in the law enforcement community. Two hundred eighty seven (287) of the officers involved in the study reported being involved in a motor vehicle collision during the follow up period. Fatigue and drowsiness resulting from sleep disorders is believed to be a contributing factor in a significant number of these collisions. Across 2009-2010, more than a third of line of duty deaths were attributed to motor vehicle crashes (NLEMF, 2010). Sleepiness and fatigue are major factors in motor vehicle collisions and drivers suffering from excessive sleepiness are not only involved in more collisions, but the collisions are often more serious and result in more severe injuries (Drake, 2010). While, officers involved in the study regarded drowsy driving to be as serious and as dangerous as drunk driving, almost half of the participants reported falling asleep while driving 1-2 times a month due to excessive sleepiness (JAMA, 2011). The loss of only two hours of sleep over just a one week period was found to have the same decrease in performance comparable with individuals after 24 hours of staying awake.

The most devastating consequence of driving under the influence is the loss of life. My great grandma Mary was hit and killed by drunken priest and my great grandpa Felix hit and killed a man while drinking and driving. As tragic as these deaths were, they both could have been prevented. Moms Against drinking and driving, (MADD) website states that every two minutes, a person is injured in drunk driving crash. When drivers chose to drink and drive, they are risking their lives, and the lives of

Driving under the influence of alcohol not only presents a danger to the driver, but also to every other motorist or pedestrian near the roadway. Being intoxicated impairs ones judgment, vision and reaction time, all of which is critical when operating any motor vehicle. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for Americans aged 6–27 and alcohol is a big factor to those numbers (jstor).

According to the article, 3.9% of drivers at night, drive under the influence of prescription drugs. Benzodiazepines and opiates are the most

“It eases off the movement of the focal sensory system, including the brain. Liquor could influence you’re driving by bringing on: impaired vision, reduced response times, reduced fixation and vigilance, feeling more loose and languid, which may cause a driver to nod off at the worst possible time, difficulty in understanding tactile data, difficulty concentrating on other traffic, and failure to obey street principles. The aftereffect impacts of liquor, the following day, can make it hard to think and drive securely, and may make you nod off while driving. An individual who has been drinking liquor may imagine that in the event that they are particularly watchful, they will have the capacity to drive securely. Notwithstanding, the liquor may have influenced their perspective and knowledge of reality. Their activities and reactions may be very distinctive to what is really required, yet they may be unconscious of the amount their driving abilities have been influenced”

Driver fatigue may not be illegal but it is lethal. Fatigue is a discreet killer that occurs for drivers no matter their age, their driving experience, how long the trip is or the time of day. In 2012, there were more fatigue related crashes than drink driving crashes in NSW. When someone doesn’t sleep for the previous 17 years before driving, they have an equal effect to someone who drives with a blood alcohol level of 0.05. A study by Nordbakke and Sagberg in 2007 concluded that drivers had a standard knowledge on preventative actions and the factors influencing the risk of falling asleep. But, despite this knowledge, drivers continue to drive on the road whilst tired.

Drivers under the influence of drugs can also be charged with a DUI. Furthermore, the drug in question doesn't even have to be illegal. Prescription drugs, such as painkillers and sleep aids, can also affect the way you drive. If you are suspected to be under the influence of a drug, prescription or not, you can be charged with a DUI.

As a future sleep technician, and a person who has suffered personally from the aftermath of a friend falling asleep at the wheel, the topic of "drowsy driving" is one concerns me. Studies show that there has been a significant rise in sleep-related crashes since the initiation of Maggie's Law in 2003, but only one recorded

When a person have a sleep disorder, they may not be able to drive as they may sleep during the day or they may have fatigue as a symptoms.

Now-a-days driver drowsiness is one of the major causes for many motor vehicle catastrophes and it can impair the human brain as much as an alcohol or drugs can. It can be due to fatigue, lack of sleep, driving for a long time, circadian low rhythm and use of medication. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), over 1.5 million people die per year and over 40 million people have severe injuries. From the statistics, we can conclude that there is an urge for developing a system that can detect drowsiness and alert the driver before any hazard happens.

We also may not know that the impact of a medicine can last long after any immediate effects have worn off. For example, we may take an OTC cold medicine at night in order to sleep better. We may assume that, come morning, the depressant effect of the medication is out of our system and that we are fine to go about our business. That isn’t always the case; studies have shown slowed reaction times and drowsiness can last up to a full day after taking an OTC medication designed to induce sleep. If we drive while in this slightly impaired state, we could potentially harm others or ourselves because we are literally falling asleep behind the wheel.

According to the CDC, driving under the influence of alcohol causes one death every 51 minutes in the United States. While the driving public may not know this exact statistic, they are aware of the general effects that this legal drug has on driving. However, many are completely in the dark about other drugs that also impair one's ability to drive. These are prescription and over the counter (OTC) drugs. These drugs also slow down reaction times, impair judgement, and cause drowsiness. Some people mistakenly believe that only alcohol and illegal recreational drugs affect driving. Others are willfully negligent about driving under the influence of prescription and OTC drugs.