Sleep Deprivation and Car Accident Risks

Most of us are guilty of it at some point in the years we’ve spent driving—we know we slept poorly the night before or perhaps didn’t sleep at all. But still, we choose to get behind the wheel and brave a long drive. Most of the time, drowsy driving doesn’t result in anything too memorable—perhaps a near-miss or far more caffeine than an individual should consume. But when fatigue takes over, tragedy may follow.

If you’ve been hurt in a crash caused by a sleepy driver, you may be entitled to compensation. Let the team at Gardner Law Group support you through this challenging time—call us at 228-436-6555 to set up a consultation with our Biloxi team immediately.

Why Are There So Many Fatigued Drivers?

If you watch the news, it might seem like there are more drowsy driving crashes than ever. That’s not a mistake—there are more tired drivers than at any point in history. People’s lifestyles are busier than ever, pitting work against family against social obligations. Sleep is often at the bottom of the list. A growing number of people work non-traditional hours, a trend that disrupts the body’s natural sleep cycles and circadian rhythm. This makes it much harder to stay awake while behind the wheel.

Screen time also plays a factor in drowsy driving. How? The use of phones and tablets increases the amount of blue light we take in on a daily basis. Lots of people use their phones right up until they fall asleep, disrupting the production of melatonin and negatively impacting their sleep quality.

How Sleep Deprivation Affects Your Driving

Sleep deprivation can seriously affect your driving in a multitude of ways, including:

Longer reaction time: Fatigue has a massive impact on your reaction time. It significantly slows down your reaction time, which can be disastrous when you encounter an obstacle and have to steer or hit the brakes. In these situations, a delay lasting less than a second could mean the difference between a crash and a near-miss.

Impaired judgment: Fatigue also impairs your judgment. When faced with the same obstacles as an alert driver, a tired driver may be more likely to make unsafe decisions.

Decreased alertness: Obviously, tired drivers aren’t as alert as well-rested drivers. This may make it harder for them to see an obstacle or change in traffic flow. When you combine that with a decreased reaction time, the fallout can be devastating.
Increase in microsleeps: Microsleeps are brief periods of sleep lasting just a couple of seconds. Drivers may miss them entirely or simply awake feeling startled about what just happened. It takes less than a second for a crash to occur, so it’s just a matter of a microsleep aligning with an obstacle on the road.

Sleep-Related Collisions

Sleep-related collisions often lead to severe outcomes. First, consider the way that normal accidents play out. Someone may realize they’re in danger and take evasive action at the last second to try to avoid a crash. When a driver is fatigued or worse, asleep, they don’t have the opportunity to do that. They may not realize what’s happening until it’s too late to do anything to mitigate the damage. This leads to full-speed crashes that may result in fatalities or severe injuries.

Fatigued driving is also underreported, making it hard to truly understand the dangers of fatigued driving. When someone causes an accident, they’re unlikely to tell the police anything that makes them look guilty. That means that many drivers aren’t going to tell the police they fell asleep, had been driving on two hours of sleep, or were otherwise too tired to drive.

Victims of drowsy driving accidents can often seek compensation for their injuries, lost wages, and other expenses. Your attorney can show that the drowsy driver was negligent for driving in an unsafe condition.

Ready to Discuss Your Case? Contact Gardner Law Group

If you’re ready to move forward with your personal injury claim, don’t wait any longer to talk to the team at Gardner Law Group. Call us at 228-436-6555 or reach out online to talk to our experienced Biloxi car accident attorneys.