WAKE up CALL! Understanding Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do
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This report was made possible by a grant from ® WAKE UP Understanding CALL! Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do WAKE UP CALL! Understanding Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do Contents 4 Contributors 5 Introduction 6 About This Publication 8 The Drowsy Driving Problem 9 Crash Characteristics 9 Determining the Extent of the Problem 11 A Nation of Drowsy Drivers 11 Why Are We So Tired? 13 Who is Likely to Drive Drowsy? 13 College Students 14 Shift & Night Workers 14 Tired Cops & EMS Providers 15 Health Care Workers 16 Commercial Motor Vehicle Operators 16 People With Sleep Disorders 18 Reframing the Issue 20 Drowsy Driving is Impaired Driving 21 Drowsy Driving as an Emphasis Area 22 Drowsy Driving Countermeasures 22 Data Collection 23 Drowsy Driving Laws 25 Teen Driver Policies 25 Nighttime Driving Restrictions 26 Later School Start Times 27 A Legislative Push to Start Schools Later 28 Tools to Help Colleges & Universities 29 Driver Education & Licensing Requirements 29 Educating Novice Drivers 30 Driver Manuals & Tests 31 License Limitations Due to Sleep Disorders 31 Workplace Policies 32 Key Employer Groups – Truckers, Docs and Cops 32 Commercial Motor Vehicle Policies 33 Hospital Policies 34 Police Agency Policies 35 Enforcement 36 Training is Essential 36 Crash Investigation Training 37 Commercial Vehicle Stops 2 WAKE UP CALL! Understanding Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do 39 Public Awareness and Education 40 Online Drowsy Driving Education & Training 40 Sleep Education 41 Tips for Getting a Good Night’s Sleep 42 Educating Parents of Teens 43 Putting a Face on Drowsy Driving 43 Tennessee 44 Massachusetts 44 Maine & Nationwide 44 Florida 45 Maryland & Nationwide 45 Engineering 45 Rumble Strips 46 Median Cable Barriers 47 Rest Areas 47 Vehicle Technology 50 State Best Practices 50 Iowa 51 Message Mondays 52 State Patrol Initiatives 52 Statewide Summit & Hy-Vee Partnership 53 Utah 54 Freeway Signage 54 Sleep Smart. Drive Smart Alliance 55 GDL Parent Nights & Driver Testing 56 UDOT Motor Carrier Division 56 Texas 56 Our Driving Concern 58 New York 58 Drowsy Driving Partnership 59 Driver Education 60 Later School Start Time 62 Law Enforcement Training 63 Conclusion 64 References 3 WAKE UP CALL! Understanding Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do Contributors This report was researched and written by Pam Fischer, Principal, Pam Fischer Consulting, Hackettstown, NJ. It was prepared with the assistance of an Expert Panel that included: Jonathan Adkins Executive Director, Governors Highway Safety Association Washington, DC Dr. David Davila Vice Chair, National Sleep Foundation, Medical Director, Sleep Center, Baptist Health Medical Center Little Rock, AR Chuck DeWeese Assistant Commissioner, New York Governor’s Traffic Safety Commission Albany, NY Vicki Harper Public Affairs, State Farm® Bloomington, IL Dr. J. Stephen Higgins* Research Psychologist, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Washington, DC Patrick Hoye Bureau Chief, Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau Des Moines, IA Lisa Joyce Public Affairs, State Farm® Concordville, PA Dr. Rafael Pelayo Clinical Professor, Adults & Children Sleep Medicine Center, Stanford Health Care Redwood City, CA Dawn Teixeria President & CEO, SADD, Inc. Marlborough, MA Ted Thurn Sr. Health Policy & Government Affairs Analyst, American Academy of Sleep Medicine Darien, IL Dr. Nathaniel Watson Immediate Past President, American Academy of Sleep Medicine Co-Director, University of Washington Medicine Sleep Center Seattle, WA The report was overseen by Kara Macek, Communications Director, GHSA. Special thanks to Barbara Harsha, BLH Consulting, LLC, for manuscript review. The views and recommendations in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of State Farm, GHSA or the individuals and organizations represented on the Expert Panel. * Served in an advisory capacity 4 WAKE UP CALL! Understanding Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do Introduction Sleep is one of the great equalizers. fatal crashes involved drowsy driving (Tefft, 2014). Everyone needs it. In fact, experts stress that we That translates to more than 5,000 people dying in should devote one-third of our day to catching drowsy-driving crashes last year. those all important Zzzz’s (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/National Institutes In March 2015, the NHTSA Administrator announced of Health [NIH], 2011). However, research that the federal agency, which is tasked with confirms that we simply are not getting enough addressing behavioral safety issues, would take a sleep. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease comprehensive approach to preventing the tragedies Control (CDC), more than one-third of U.S. adults attributed to driver drowsiness or fatigue (Rosekind, report sleeping less than seven hours a day – the 2015). Later in the year, representatives from traffic optimal time needed for good health and well safety, public health, law enforcement and advocacy being (Liu et al., 2016). That means that nearly organizations, along with academia and business 83.6 million sleep-deprived people are in the convened in Washington for a series of meetings to workplace, at school and on the road. discuss what to do about the problem. From defining what it is to identifying potential countermeasures, A drowsy driver is an unsafe driver. A lack of sleep many individuals and organizations discussed not negatively impacts performance. It slows reaction only the significance of driving drowsy, but also the time, impairs judgment and situational awareness, need to adopt a new approach to solving it. increases lapses in attention and risk taking as well as the potential to micro sleep – literally dozing off for a few seconds BILLION while driving (National Safety Estimated annual societal cost Council [NSC], 2016; Czeisler & $ of fatigue-related fatal and Baldino, 2015; Rosekind, 2012). injury crashes, not including To compound the problem, being property damage. tired impairs our ability to judge just how tired we really are. Source: NHTSA109 analysis for GHSA While one in four motorists has admitted to driving Joining the call for a solution, the National at least once during the past month when they Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which were so tired they could barely keep their eyes conducted approximately 36 major investigations open (Arnold & Tefft, 2015), is that self-reported involving fatigue between 2001 and 2012, added assessment truly accurate? human-fatigue to its current list of most wanted transportation safety improvements (2016). In The decision to get behind the wheel or stay on addition, the U.S. Department of Health and Human the road despite feeling drowsy can be deadly. Services’ Healthy People 2020 program, the nation’s According to the National Highway Traffic Safety roadmap for better health, includes sleep as a priority Administration (NHTSA), from 2009 to 2013 initiative and calls for a reduction in drowsy driving there were more than 72,000 police-reported crashes coupled with an increase in the proportion crashes involving drowsy drivers, injuring more of high school students and adults who get sufficient than an estimated 41,000 people and killing sleep (U.S. Department of Health and Human more than 800 (National Center for Statistics Services [HHS], 2010; HHS 2016). and Analysis [NCSA], 2011). However, there is agreement that drowsy driving is significantly Clearly, the nation’s lack of sleep and its impact on underreported. An AAA Foundation for Traffic driving is a bona fide public health and safety threat. Safety (AAA Foundation) analysis of data from The challenge is engaging the public in a dialogue that NHTSA’s NASS Crashworthiness Data System ultimately prompts behavior change. estimates that 7% of all crashes and 16.5% of 5 WAKE UP CALL! Understanding Drowsy Driving and What States Can Do About This Publication This publication is one of a series funded by State Farm®. The report is intended to help Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) member State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) and their partners better understand the cause and effect of drowsy driving and identify how best to address it in their respective states and/or communities. It explores what is known about the extent of drowsy driving, the crash characteristics, who is most at risk, and the challenges associated with combating the problem. The restorative value of sleep and the vital role it plays in our personal health and safety are discussed including how much is needed and the factors and medical conditions that impact it. Drowsiness as a form of impaired driving is addressed with an eye toward reframing the issue so that driving without adequate sleep is deemed just as dangerous as driving drunk, drugged or distracted. Countermeasures – policies, programs (education and enforcement), and Drowsiness as a engineering solutions – being employed at the federal, state and local level as form of impaired well as in-vehicle technologies available today or on the horizon, are examined. driving is addressed However, this report is not intended to be inclusive of all drowsy driving-related in this report with policies or initiatives, nor does inclusion of a particular program or policy imply an eye toward endorsement. For example, while the report identifies commercial vehicle reframing the issue operators as a group at-risk for driving fatigued and briefly discusses policy so that driving and tactics, it does not delve into the current regulatory environment. That topic without adequate is well beyond the