AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety report shows that the number of sleepy drivers is higher than thought.ay

Cleared2Drive notes the importance of the following study and hopes that the public will see the importance of educating people as to the dangers of Drowsy Driving.

According to the study, “Asleep at the Wheel: The Prevalence and Impact of Drowsy Driving,” 41 percent of respondents say they have fallen asleep at the wheel, with one in 10 admitting to it in the past year. The figures combined with a new analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration crash data estimates that 16.5 percent of fatal crashes involve a driver who is drowsy. The numbers are higher than previously estimated, which suggests that instances driver fatigue may be rising.

“When you are behind the wheel of a car, being sleepy is very dangerous. Sleepiness decreases awareness, slows reaction time, and impairs judgment, just like drugs or alcohol, contributing to the possibility of a crash,” said AAA Foundation President and CEO Peter Kissinger in a recent statement. “We need to change the culture so that not only will drivers recognize the dangers of driving while drowsy but will stop doing it.”

The data was derived from a telephone survey of 2,000 respondents that were 16 year old and older between May and June of 2010.

Cleared2Drive’s technology is just as effective against drowsy driving as it is against impaired driving.  Anything that would cause a person’s reaction time to be altered, will be recognized by the system and prevent that individual from being able to start their vehicle.

$62.7 Million Settlement in Fatal Truck Accident

Hopefully this will serve as a serious wake up call for every company with a fleet of vehicles.  Yes, education is important, but it is only as good as the people hearing it want it to be; yes, a video showing exactly happened is important so we can learn from it; but let’s be completely honest about what is MOST important here . . . Preventing this type of situation from ever happening and Cleared2Drive is the only technology available that can do that!

A $62.7-million settlement was reached in a civil court suit brought by the relatives of eight victims of a horrendous crash in Oklahoma caused by Donald Creed a 76 year old driver for Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG).   In all, 10 persons were killed and five more injured by the accident.

Creed, who pleaded guilty to 10 counts of negligent homicide, a misdemeanor in Oklahoma, in a plea deal, was sentenced to a year of probation on each count. He must serve 30 days in a county jail and wear an electronic monitoring device in his first year of probation. He is also barred from obtaining a commercial driver’s license.

AWG is a retailer-owned grocery cooperative based in Kansas City, KS, that serves 1,900 members. AWG’s attorney Jim Secrest said the company was facing an additional claim of independent negligence for allowing Creed on the road. The company was prepared to fight that claim, he said, adding that AWG had “state-of-the-art” equipment in the truck and that witnesses who had seen Creed throughout his shift would have testified that Creed appeared “normal” that day.

“To this moment, we know what happened, but we don’t know why,” Secrest said. “This guy [Creed] had five-million miles without one personal injury accident.” Secrest said that AWG’s fatigue management program was not as strong as it could have been. The company has improved the program since the accident, he said.  “It was not as intense as it should have been and I think AWG acknowledged that,” Secrest said.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the cause of the crash was the result of Creed’s fatigue due to acute sleep loss, mild sleep apnea and circadian disruption associated with his shift schedule.

Creed had just returned from a vacation and was still adjusting to the shift, which began shortly after 3 a.m., NTSB said. The Board said that Creed never reacted to the backup of traffic due to an earlier accident along Interstate 44 near Miami, OK. Creed drove his truck, traveling at 69 mph in a 75-mph zone, into the back of a stopped sport utility vehicle. The truck continued forward and hit three additional vehicles, pushing the third vehicle into the rear of a livestock trailer being towed by a pickup truck. That vehicle then collided with yet another vehicle.

The accident occurred at 1:19 p.m., roughly 10 hours after Creed had started his shift. NTSB said that Creed failed to apply brakes or take any evasive measures before the collision.

“This crash points out the need for three important actions by federal regulators that would go a long way to reducing this type of accident on our roadways: a fatigue management system would have helped the driver get the rest he needed to perform well behind the wheel, event recorders would have provided our investigators with the details about the crash once it occurred, and a collision warning system would have significantly reduced the likelihood that this accident could have ever happened,” said NTSB chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman. “The time to act on all three of these safety fundamentals is now so that this kind of horrific tragedy will not occur again.”

NTSB also has called upon FMCSA to require all heavy commercial vehicles to be equipped with video event recorders, to improve its fatigue educational materials and to require all motor carriers to adopt a fatigue management program based on the North American Fatigue Management Program.

AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety Shows 17% of Fatal Car Crashes due to Drowsy Driving

A new study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety shows close to 17% of all fatal car crashes are the result of drowsy driving.  Idaho State Police Captain Lonnie Richardson said drowsy driving is as dangerous as any other distracted or impaired driving.

“Drowsy drivers are very dangerous on the road,” said Richardson. “It’s bad enough people driving down the road changing the stereo, or gawking out the window looking at the scenery, which causes the vehicle to drift off. Under those circumstances the driver can usually recover.”

But Richardson said the recovery from falling asleep is not so easy. “In a drowsy situation, someone generally falls asleep,” said Richardson. “And when they wake up they are naturally frightened. The natural reaction is to jerk right or left. When that happens, the laws of gravity and the laws of momentum are going to dictate that vehicle is generally going to roll over on them.”

Richardson said drivers should stop when they start to feel drowsy. Even a short nap can help make sure you arrive safely.  “If you find yourself at all tired, pull over, find a rest area, find a nice location where you can pull over and take a 30 minute nap,” said Richardson. “Just a 30 minute nap will refresh you enough to keep you from probably crashing your vehicle.”

The survey also showed a quarter of the respondents admit to driving during the previous month while being so tired they had difficulty keeping their eyes open.  Just as it detects impairment from drugs or alcohol, Cleared2Drive also detects impairment from sleep deprivation or extreme fatigue.  As all equally dangerous.