{"id":2207,"date":"2017-09-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.awjlaw.com\/2017\/09\/20\/dangers-of-fatigued-driving\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T15:33:13","slug":"dangers-of-fatigued-driving","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.awjlaw.com\/faqs\/dangers-of-fatigued-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangers of Fatigued Driving"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), \u201cDrowsy driving kills. It claimed 846 lives in 2014.\u201d The NHTSA goes on to say that it\u2019s working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help expand awareness about the dangers of drowsy driving in an effort to reduce the related injuries and deaths.<\/p>\n

The NHTSA reports that while people can drive fatigued anytime day or night, \u201cdrowsy-driving crashes most frequently occur between midnight and 6 a.m., or in the late-afternoon \u2013 both times when there are dips in your circadian rhythm (the internal human body clock that regulates sleep,\u201d says the NHTSA).<\/p>\n

How Do I Avoid Drowsy Driving?<\/h2>\n

We get it \u2013 it\u2019s not always easy to avoid drowsy driving, especially if you\u2019re an adult with a job and family responsibilities. For example, you could be a mother or father who stayed up all night with a sick child, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can call in sick to work the next day. With three-hours\u2019 sleep, you make the 30-minute commute to work and back, exhausted.<\/p>\n

In fact, parents of young children (or teenagers) are often some of the most sleep-deprived drivers on the roads! But unfortunately, parents don\u2019t always have the luxury of taking a nap or taking a day off when they\u2019re tired from lack of sleep.<\/p>\n

While we can\u2019t control everything in our lives, like a teething toddler, or a new puppy who keeps us up at night, what can we do to reduce the risk of driving while fatigued? Here are some suggestions from the NHTSA and us:<\/p>\n