Holiday travelers may want to consider this — the risk of of an accident nearly doubles for motorists who miss one to two hours of sleep, according to a new report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Drivers who miss two to three hours of sleep in a 24-hour period more than quadrupled their risk of a crash compared to drivers who slept seven hours or more, the foundation found.
“You cannot miss sleep and still expect to be able to safely function behind the wheel,” said Dr. David Yang, executive director for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. “Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 35 percent of drivers in the U.S. sleep less than the recommended seven hours a night. More than one in five fatal crashes in the U.S. involved drowsy driving.
