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Study: Sleepy drivers equally as dangerous as drunken drivers





Under the direction of Dr. Nicholas Moore at the Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire de Bordeaux in France, researchers analyzed information from 679 drivers who were admitted to a hospital in southwest France for more than 24 hours because of a serious accident between 2007 and 2009.


The majority of the injured drivers were under 55 years old and men. Over half were on a motorcycle, about one-third of the drivers were in a car and 10 percent were peddling a bicycle at the time of the accident.

The police determined 355 of the drivers were responsible for their respective crash. From that, Moore and his colleagues found that being between the ages of 18 and 29 years old, driving a car, drinking alcohol and being sleepy were all tied to an increased risk of causing an accident.

Surprisingly, taking medications that carry warnings about affecting a driver's abilities -- one of the researchers' main focuses -- was tied to a lower risk of causing an accident.

Moore told Reuters Health that may be because people taking those medications are more aware of their side effects.



One way for people to reduce their accident risk is to take a nap before they hit the road, according to Moore.

"Don't hesitate if you're tired to take a short nap or drink a few cups of coffee. And if you drink coffee, it will take some time to take effect," he said.

Drake added, however, that coffee's effectiveness can wear off over time.

"Anytime you're feeling sleepy behind the wheel is a danger sign," he said.

The standard techniques of turning on the air conditioner or blasting the radio only mask the signs of sleepiness -- they don't make it go away. "They're good to get you to the next exit, but it's not going to get you home," Drake said.

There are some laws in the U.S. to punish sleepy drivers, but Drake told Reuters Health they are hard to enforce unless someone gets into an accident.



Overall, Moore said the best advice is, "don't drink and please sleep."

"There is no substitute for sleep," said Drake.