Drowsy driving is a huge problem in Missouri and around the country. Approximately 43 percent of people who were surveyed in a recent study conducted by AAA admitted that at least once in their lives they had driven while fatigued. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is taking measures to try to bring this number down.
In a forum recently held in Washington, D.C., the NHSTA administrator stated that an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 lives are lost each year due to drivers nodding off at the wheel. A former board member of the National Transportation Safety Board, he also stated that between 2001 and 2012, fatigue was a factor in 39.5 percent of major highway accidents investigated by the NTSB. A 2010 AAA study found that about one in every six deadly accidents is a result of drowsy driving.
Driving while fatigued is especially common among young drivers. In the recent AAA survey, about 39.5 percent of drivers between the ages of 19 and 24 reported having trouble staying awake behind the wheel at some time within the previous month. Nearly one-third of all of the respondents said that they had driven while fatigued at least once within the same time period.
A person who has been injured in a car accident that was caused by a drowsy or otherwise negligent driver may often incur high medical bills and be force to miss work for an extended period of time. A personal injury attorney can in many cases be of assistance to an injured victim in seeking compensation from the at-fault driver for the losses that have been sustained.