According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drowsy driving is the dangerous combination of driving when sleepy. Drowsiness can make a person less able to pay attention to the road, lead to slow reaction time, and affect the ability to make good decisions.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drowsy-driving crashes:
- occur most frequently between midnight and 6 a.m. or in the late afternoon
- often involve a single driver with no passengers
- frequently happen on rural roads or highways.
The chart below shows that in 2021, 2.2 percent of fatal crashes were caused by drivers who were drowsy, asleep, fatigued, ill, or blacked out.
Additional resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Drowsy Driving: Asleep at the Wheel.
National Safety Council, Drivers are Falling Asleep Behind the Wheel.
