Drowsy Driving Causes 1 in 5 Fatal Crashes: Report

Nearly 84 million sleep-deprived Americans take to the roads every day. And, drowsy driving was a factor in crashes that claimed about 5,000 lives last year, a new report shows.

Traffic deaths rose almost 8 percent in the United States in 2015. Drowsy driving is estimated to cause up to 20 percent of all road fatalities, but the extent of the problem is not fully known, according to experts.

The threat posed by tired drivers prompted the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to expand its definition of impaired driving to include not only drunk, drugged and distracted, but also drowsy driving.

The annual cost to society of fatigue-related crashes that cause injury or death is $109 billion, according to a Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) report.

Some drivers are at greater risk for drowsy driving.

“Teens and young adults are involved in more than half of all drowsy driving crashes annually,” Adkins said. “People who work nights or long or irregular shifts are also more likely to get behind the wheel when they are too tired to drive, along with the estimated 40 million Americans who suffer from a sleep disorder.”

Americans need to change how they view sleep, according to report author Pam Fischer.