Prevalence of motor vehicle crashes involving drowsy drivers, United States, 1999–2008

• Published in: Accident analysis and prevention 2012-03, Vol.45, p.180-186
• Main Author: Tefft, Brian Christopher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accident analysis; Accidents; Accidents, Traffic - mortality; Accidents, Traffic - statistics & numerical data; Adolescent; Adult; Attention; Circadian Rhythm; Confidence intervals; Crashes; Cross-Sectional Studies; Driver fatigue; Drowsiness; Fatal; Female; Hospitals; Humans; Imputation; Male; Middle Aged; Motor vehicles; Passengers; Patient Admission - statistics & numerical data; Sleep Stages; Traffic; Trauma Severity Indices; United States; Wounds and Injuries - epidemiology; Wounds and Injuries - mortality; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0001-4575; 1879-2057
• DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2011.05.028

► Information about driver drowsiness often is missing in crash data. ► The proportion of crashes involving drowsy drivers likely has been underestimated. ► Multiple imputation was used to address missing data in a representative sample. ► An estimated 16.5% of fatal crashes in the United States involve a drowsy driver. ► An estimated 7.0% of crashes in the United States involve a drowsy driver. 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.