Sleepy Drivers Cause over 100,000 Deaths Per Year in Car Crashes

According to a JAMA article, sleepy drivers contribute to about 100,000 motor vehicle crashes reported to police each year. Whats amazing is according to the article, its about 4% of all fatal crashes in the United States each year and contributes to about 31% of fatal semi crashes each year. JAMA actually believes the statistics are greater than this and discusses the basis of such in its articles.

I could continue summarizing the article, but instead I would like to have a heart to heart with Oklahoma drivers and discuss remedies and ways to prevent falling asleep at the wheel in future blogs.

The reason this issue is so close to me is that as a twelve year-old I was awakened at 5:00 in the morning with my parents rushing me out of bed telling me my cousin was hurt bad in a traffic accident. See, this wasn’t any normal cousin. This cousin had lived with me on and off my whole life and shared bunkbeds with me at one point. He was 17 coming home after falling asleep at his girlfriends house when he fell asleep and flipped his car in a ditch. He sustained horrific injuries throughout his body including amputation and horrible burns. He lived a month before going home to God.

I share this personal experience because whether you suffer from sleepy driving or have a loved one that has been hurt due to a car crash caused by a sleepy driver, I don’t anyone to dread a phone call past10:00 p.m. like I do. The memory still lives with me to this day and if that phone rings past 10:00 p.m. I get immediately nervous. I never missed curfew as a teen thanks to this experience.

So remember, take precautions and don’t fall asleep at the wheel, it can cause you or someone else their life.