Announcements: Drowsy Driving Prevention Week — November 12–18, 2012

Announcements: Drowsy Driving Prevention Week — November 12–18, 2012

Weekly

November 9, 2012 / 61(44);907

Drowsy driving has been identified as a major factor compromising public health and safety (1). In the general population, nearly 5% of respondents to the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System reported that, at least once in the preceding 30 days, they had fallen asleep or nodded off while driving (2). Results of a questionnaire administered at truck inspection stations in several U.S. states indicated that 28% of commercial motor vehicle drivers acknowledged that at least once during the preceding month, they had fallen asleep while driving (3). Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths among youths aged 15–24 years (4), and drowsy driving has been identified as one type of teen driver error (5). Given the prevalence and dire consequences of drowsy driving, CDC encourages parents, educators, health-care providers, and the general public to learn more about healthy sleep practices that can combat drowsy driving. Additional information is available online from the National Sleep Foundation at http://www.sleepfoundation.org and from CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/sleep.

References

1. Wells ME, Vaughn BV. Poor sleep challenging the health of a nation. Neurodiagn J 2012;52:233–49.
2. CDC. Unhealthy sleep-related behaviors—12 states, 2009. MMWR 2011;60:233–8.
3. Federal Highway Administration, Office of Motor Carriers. Commercial truck driver fatigue, alertness, and countermeasures survey. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration, Office of Motor Carrier Research and Standards; 1999. Available at http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/documents/tb99-006.pdf . Accessed October 30, 2012.
4. CDC. 10 leading causes of injury deaths by age group highlighting unintentional injury deaths, United States—2010. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2012. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/pdf/10lcid_unintentional_deaths_2010-a.pdf . Accessed October 30, 2012.
5. Curry AE, Hafetz J, Kallan MJ, Winston FK, Durbin DR. Prevalence of teen driver errors leading to serious motor vehicle crashes. Accid Anal Prev 2011;43:1285–90.