Fatigue is a common issue among working adults. Parents and professionals often have more responsibilities than free time. When they need to work overtime or tend to significant home maintenance projects, sleep may be what they sacrifice.
Those who have worked marathon shifts at work or who only rested for a few hours the previous night often assume they can safely drive. However, fatigued or drowsy driving is incredibly dangerous and can lead to devastating collisions caused by exhausted motorists.
Why do fatigued drivers inspire a heightened collision risk?
Fatigue affects capabilities
Traffic safety experts often compare fatigued driving to drunk driving. The longer people go without rest, the greater the impact of their fatigue. Fatigue symptoms mirror the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption.
People who have gone too long without sleep struggle to remain focused while driving. They may also find it difficult to make appropriate decisions when traffic conditions abruptly change. They also usually experience noteworthy increases in their reaction times.
The longer people go without adequate sleep, the more obvious those deficits become. While the law only limits the drive times for those operating commercial vehicles, drivers in their own cars put others at risk by getting behind the wheel while drowsy.
The risk of dozing off at the wheel
Drivers who feel tired may struggle to stay awake, especially when driving after the sun sets or on highways, where the lack of visual stimulation can increase the risk of falling asleep for a few seconds. Even microsleep incidents that involve a person dozing off for less than a minute can be enough to cause a devastating crash. Drivers may go off the road or veer into oncoming traffic because they fall asleep at the wheel.
After a drowsy driving crash, the people injured do not need to prove that the other driver was asleep at the wheel or too tired to drive safely, although admissions of those facts can streamline compensation claims. They simply need proof that the drowsy driver did something illegal or clearly unsafe that caused the crash.
Those affected by drowsy or fatigued drivers may have substantial expenses to address. Working with a lawyer can help those injured in fatigue-related car crashes hold unsafe drivers responsible for putting others at risk on the road.