Drowsy drivers as dangerous as drunks, study finds

07 December 2016 - 09:39 By ©The Daily Telegraph
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Sleeping less than five hours a night and then getting behind the wheel is as dangerous as driving while drunk, a study has found.

US researchers found that drivers who miss between one and two hours of the recommended seven hours a night nearly double their risk of having an accident.

And motorists who miss two to three hours of sleep more than quadruple their risk of crashing, which is the same risk as driving over the legal alcohol limit.

"You can't miss sleep and still function safely behind the wheel," said David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

It is thought that people driving while drowsy are responsible for around one in five crashes on UK roads.

But although 97% of drivers told the AAA Foundation that drowsy driving was a serious threat to their safety, nearly a third admitted that at least once in the past month they had driven when they were so tired that they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.

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