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Drowsy Driving in Fatal Crashes, United States, 2017–2021
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that 91,000 police-reported crashes resulting in 50,000 injuries and 800 fatalities annually—amounting to approximately 1%–2% of all crashes, injuries, and deaths—involve drowsy driving; however, the contribution of drowsy driving in motor vehicle crashes is difficult to measure. Although reports by police officers who investigate crashes sometimes indicate that a driver was drowsy, data derived from these reports are widely regarded as substantial underestimates of the true scope of the problem.
The current study used data derived from in-depth crash investigations conducted for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to develop and validate a model to impute driver drowsiness in cases when the driver’s pre-crash alertness or drowsiness could not be ascertained. The model was then used to impute the involvement of drowsiness in all fatal crashes nationwide that involved at least one car, pickup truck, van, minivan, or sport utility vehicle.
Read the full study here.