Only 1 hour of lack of sleep doubles the risk of a car accident

According to recent data, sleep, reduced by only 1 hour, almost doubles the risk of getting into an accident the next day. And if you sit behind the wheel after 4-5 hours of sleep, then the chances that an accident will occur, increase 4-fold. "It's comparable to driving in a state of strong alcoholic intoxication," road safety officials warn.

Why is it important to get enough sleep?

"This is the first test of the influence of the amount of sleep on the ability to drive and the risk of getting into an accident," says Brian Tefft, the author of the study. And adds that before the length of the driver's rest did not pay so much attention, which is fundamentally wrong.

"The American National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recognized the problem of lack of sleep and will soon develop a new strategy to combat driving in a sleepy state," said Brian Thomas, director of public relations at the federal agency. "Not everyone will decide to drive in a drunken state or take risks, typing messages in parallel with driving a car, but anyone can be behind the wheel of sleepers."

National health organizations recommend that healthy adults sleep seven to nine hours each night. Teenagers, and young people who are in a state of lack of sleep for a long time, may need even more time to sleep and recover.

Lack of sleep leads to slow reactions, disruption of attention, inability to quickly navigate on the road and can cause fatal errors.

"Of course, many people understand that driving in a sleepy state can be dangerous, but thanks to these studies, we have a real confirmation of this fact," Tefft says. "Now you have to think about how to control this condition from the drivers."

What did research show?

For the report, data on recent road accidents were analyzed. Researchers have chosen about 4,600 cases of accidents, which occurred because the driver began to fall asleep at the wheel, in the period from July 2005 to December 2007. At least one of them led to an immediate lethal outcome and towing what was left of the car.

Specially trained investigators examined the length of sleep of each of the injured drivers to assess whether lack of sleep was the cause of the accident. And after that, we examined in detail the accidents that occurred for other reasons. In most cases, drivers from the second study group were asleep.

"The value can even have 1 hour of lack of sleep, this increases the risk of creating an emergency on the road eleven and a half times," the researchers say.

Drunk or sleepy?

Approximately the same results were shown by drivers who had a blood alcohol content of 0.12 to 0.15 ppm. In most states of America, a driver who is above the 0.8 ppm mark is considered drunk.

In the risk zone - young and elderly

The youngest and oldest drivers, as it turned out, sleep less than others. Drivers of middle-aged, as a rule, fell into an accident for other reasons and less.

Jake Nelson, the head of the road transport service who participated in the study, warned people and asked to schedule his sleep in such a way that there was no risk of getting into an accident due to lack of sleep. "Whoever takes care of yourself and your family?", He added.

A full-fledged sleep affects our condition in general, because not only on the roads is important to us attention and the ability to quickly respond and orient. Get enough sleep, take care of your health and good roads to you!