Drunk or Drowsy - AAA Foundation Survey Finds Many Police Officers Mistake Tired Drivers for Drunk Drivers

WASHINGTON--Nov. 2, 20043, 2004--Nearly nine out of every ten police officers responding to an AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety Internet survey reported they had stopped a driver who they believed was drunk, but turned out to be drowsy. The survey was coordinated with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has provided some estimates on the scope of the drowsy driving problem in the past. According to NHTSA data, up to 100,000 police-reported crashes annually involve drowsiness or fatigue as a principal causal factor. That accounts for 1.5 percent of all crashes. At least 71,000 people are injured in fall-asleep crashes each year and a conservative estimate of annual related fatalities is 1,500. NHTSA estimates the monetary losses each year as result of these crashes represent $12.5 billion. Mounting evidence suggests the numbers are much higher and new estimates are expected.

Additional survey responses revealed:

-- 89 percent of police officers agreed that drowsy driving is as dangerous as drunk driving,

-- 93 percent of police officers believed drowsy driving is a serious problem,

-- 93 percent agreed that drowsy driving is a serious problem for passenger car drivers,

-- 97 percent agreed that drowsy driving is a serious problem for commercial drivers,

-- 95 percent agreed that drivers who cause a crash because they are fatigued should be charged with a driving violation, and

-- 96 percent agreed that more education is needed to inform drivers about the dangers of drowsy driving.

"Through releasing the results of our drowsy driving survey, we hope to raise public awareness on this important issue," noted Peter Kissinger, President and CEO, of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "The AAA Foundation's free brochure, "Wake Up!," available on-line at www.aaafoundation.org, also helps drivers by providing tips to understand the risks and symptoms associated with drowsy driving which are key to avoiding it."

"Promoting safe, healthy sleep practices to avoid drowsy driving is necessary to decrease its occurrence. The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) created www.drowsydriving.org, which provides information on how to recognize signs of drowsy driving and effective countermeasures," said Richard Gelula, NSF's CEO. "Through our site, we are spreading the word about the importance of sleep and being alert behind the wheel. We also debunk the effectiveness of remedies people often associate with helping them stay awake when driving such as rolling the window down or turning up the volume of the radio."

Between January 1 and March 31, 2004, police officers from various organizations in the United States and Canada answered the AAA Foundation's online survey(1). Police organizations, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police and State and Provincial Police Departments distributed the survey via e-mail announcements, telephone calls, newsletters, and Web page announcements. The AAA Foundation received a total of 2,269 valid survey responses.

"We were quite eager to assist the AAA Foundation in spreading the word among police officers to participate in their drowsy driving survey," reported Assistant Commissioner Earl M. Sweeney, of the New Hampshire Department of Safety, and Chair of the Highway Safety Committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. "As police officers, we are exposed to the 'real world' issues affecting drivers and, as such, it makes a lot of sense to ask police officers about their experiences."

A NHTSA-sponsored Gallup survey in 2002 found that 95 percent of the driving population considers drowsy driving by other people to be a threat to their safety. About 37 percent of respondents reported they had fallen asleep while driving at least once in their life, and 10 percent of those, or an estimated 7.5 million drivers, had done so within the month preceding the survey.

In a 1999 study commissioned by the AAA Foundation, researchers from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center investigated the experiences of a sample of drivers who had recently been involved in drowsy driving crashes. One-fourth of drivers who had fallen asleep at the wheel, and about one-third of those in crashes attributed to fatigue, reported sleeping an average of less than 6 hours per night. Only about 11 percent of drivers involved in crashes unrelated to fatigue, and less than 7 percent of drivers not involved in crashes reported sleeping so little. Visit www.aaafoundation.org/pdf/sleep.PDF for the full report.

To drive alert and arrive alive, the AAA Foundation suggests:

-- Not driving when you are sleepy

-- Stopping driving if you become sleepy while on the road. Drink a caffeinated beverage.

-- Since it takes about 30 minutes for caffeine to enter the bloodstream, take a 20-30 minute nap while you're waiting for the caffeine to take effect.

-- Getting plenty of sleep (at least six hours) the night before a long trip

-- Not planning to work all day and then drive all night

-- Traveling at times when you are normally awake, and staying overnight rather than driving straight through.

-- Avoiding sleepy times of day. Take a mid-afternoon nap and find a place to sleep between midnight and 6 a.m.

-- Traveling with an awake passenger

-- Scheduling a break every two hours or every 100 miles

The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety is an independent, publicly funded, 501(c)(3) charitable research and educational organization established in 1947 by the American Automobile Association. The AAA Foundation's mission is to prevent traffic deaths and injuries by conducting research into their causes and by educating the public about strategies to prevent crashes and reduce the impact when they do occur.

(1)Survey Limitations: Internet surveys have inherent limitations, so these results should be interpreted carefully. Although this was a study of U.S. and Canadian police officers, it was not a representative sample, with respect to geography, types of police departments, or types of officers. Although the survey was not advertised to the public, and officers learned of the Internet location through police communications, it is likely that at least a few responses came from people who were not police officers. Finally, as in any survey research, it is unlikely that all respondents were completely candid. Despite these limitations, the results leave little doubt that police officers view drowsy driving as a serious traffic safety issue.