Announcement: Drowsy Driving Prevention Week — November 6–13, 2016
Weekly / November 4, 2016 / 65(43);1202
Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, the National Sleep Foundation’s annual campaign to educate the public about the hazards of driving while sleepy, will be observed November 6–13, 2016. A report released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety in 2014 concluded that drowsy drivers were involved in an estimated 21% of fatal crashes, based on a nationally representative sample of motor vehicle crashes during 2009–2013 (1).
Drivers who work the night shift, work multiple jobs, or have irregular work schedules are at increased risk for motor vehicle crashes caused by drowsy driving (2). These groups are also more likely to report sleeping <7 hours per day (3): 70% of night shift workers in the transportation and warehousing industry reported less than 7 hours of sleep per night (3), compared with 30% of all adult U.S. workers.
General information about drowsy driving is available from the National Sleep Foundation (http://drowsydriving.org/). Information for shift workers regarding how to improve their sleep and reduce their risk for drowsy driving also is available online (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/workschedules/).
References
- Tefft BC. Prevalence of motor vehicle crashes involving drowsy drivers, United States, 2009–2013. Washington, DC: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety; 2014. https://www.aaafoundation.org/sites/default/files/AAAFoundation-DrowsyDriving-Nov2014.pdf
- Stutts JC, Wilkins JW, Scott Osberg J, Vaughn BV. Driver risk factors for sleep-related crashes. Accid Anal Prev 2003;35:321–31. CrossRef PubMed
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Short sleep duration among workers—United States, 2010. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2012;61:281–5. PubMed
Suggested citation for this article: Announcement: Drowsy Driving Prevention Week — November 6–13, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:1202. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6543a7.
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