How Likely Are You to Be in a Sleepy Driver Accident if You Don’t Get Enough Rest?
If you are driving and you have not gotten a sufficient amount of rest, you may not be able to be a safe driver. As a result, you could cause a collision to happen. You could hurt yourself and you could cause injury to others as a result of the auto accident occurring. You need to make certain you get enough rest and you must stop driving if you find yourself nodding off or unable to concentrate as a result of your fatigue. If you don't and you hurt or kill someone, you could be held legally liable for the damage you cause to occur as a result of your sleepy driver accident.
Drivers are expected to exercise reasonable caution while they are operating their vehicles. If you make the choice to drive when you are feeling really tired, this could be considered negligent. If you take dangerous actions while driving because your judgement is impaired by fatigue, those dangerous actions could be viewed as negligent as well. Of course, if you continue to drive when you are dozing off behind the wheel, this is definitely negligent and could cause a serious accident to happen.
If another driver proves you were negligent and proves the negligence led to the sleepy driving accident, you can be sued in a personal injury or wrongful death case. The goal of the victim will be to prove you caused a drowsy driving crash and that resulting serious injuries or a resulting death was your fault. Around 20 percent of fatal car accidents in the United States involve a fatigued driver, according to NPR. The tired drivers who caused these fatal accidents likely did not mean to cause deadly crashes, but they are still responsible for the choice they made to drive when they were tired.
Around one in three Americans does not get enough sleep, so it is very common for motorists to make a bad decision to drive while fatigued. There is a non-trivial chance this could have devastating consequences. The chances of a crash happening are four times greater if you've gotten only four or five hours of sleep in the past 24 hours, as compared with if you'd rested for the recommended seven to nine hours. Even getting five or six hours of sleep instead of seven to nine hours could double the chances of a crash happening. You should know the risks, be aware that you could cause harm and be held responsible, and make a commitment to get enough rest.
If you do find yourself dozing off while driving, or even just having a hard time focusing because of your fatigue, you should stop and rest. Taking just a 10 to 20 minute nap on a long trip could refresh you so you are not so tired and could potentially help you to avoid a serious or even fatal crash.