title: Prevalence of motor vehicle crashes involving drowsy drivers, United States, 1999-2008.
abstract: The proportion of motor vehicle crashes that involve a drowsy driver likely is greater than existing crash databases reflect, due to the possibility that some drivers whose pre-crash state of attention was unknown may have been drowsy. This study estimated the proportion of crashes that involved a drowsy driver in a representative sample of 47,597 crashes in the United States from 1999 through 2008 that involved a passenger vehicle that was towed from the scene. Multiple imputation was used to address missing data on driver drowsiness. In the original (non-imputed) data, 3.9% of all crashes, 7.7% of non-fatal crashes that resulted in hospital admission, and 3.6% of fatal crashes involved a driver coded as drowsy; however, the drowsiness status of 45% of drivers was unknown. In the imputed data, an estimated 7.0% of all crashes (95% confidence interval: 4.6%, 9.3%), 13.1% of non-fatal crashes that resulted in hospital admission (95% confidence interval: 8.8%, 17.3%), and 16.5% of fatal crashes (95% confidence interval: 12.5%, 20.6%) involved a drowsy driver. Results suggest that the prevalence of fatal crashes that involve a drowsy driver is over 350% greater than has been reported previously.
authors.affiliation: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 607 14th Street NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20005, United States. btefft@aaafoundation.org
authors.forename: Brian Christopher
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Tefft
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012894:Sleep Stages; D015599:Trauma Severity Indices; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000401:mortality; D055815:Young Adult