The Contributing Role of Sleepiness in Highway Vehicle Accidents

Abstract

Data regarding vehicle accidents per hour of the day were supplied by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and by the Italian Automobile Club (ACI).Data regarding traffic density in the corresponding time span were supplied by the Italian Highways Society. 5 Analysis of Sleep Ascribed AccidentsThe criteria used by police officers to ascribe a given accident to sleepiness are the following:• Suspicion of sleepiness as the major cause, stated by the policeman called on the accident scene. It is based on the pres-Study objective: To evaluate the contributing role of sleepiness in Italian highway vehicle accidents during the time span 1993-1997. Design: We analyzed separately the hourly distribution of accidents ascribed by police officers univocally to sleepiness and the rest. Patients: N/A Interventions: N/A Measurements: Using a polynomial regression, we evaluated the relation between accidents (whether sleep-ascribed or not) and sleepiness as derived from a 24-hour sleep propensity curve. The relation between sleep-influenced and non-sleep influenced accidents was analysed using a linear regression Results: The rate of non-sleep ascribed accidents is closely related with sleep propensity and bears a strong similarity with the pattern of sleepascribed accidents. A close relationship between the curves of non-sleep ascribed accidents and sleep-ascribed accidents is confirmed.The regression coefficient, which can be seen as the ratio between the quota of accidents that can be considered as sleep affected and those actually ascribed to sleepiness, results in a value of 5.83. Considering that the rate of sleep ascribed accidents is 3.2%, we can calculate the quota of sleep influenced accidents out of those not officially ascribed to sleepiness as 18.7% reaching an estimate of accidents related in some way to sleepiness equal to 21.9%. Conclusions: Our indirect estimate of sleep influenced accidents approaches data reported by other European countries and highlights the importance of sleepiness as a direct and/or contributing factor in vehicle accident rates.

Insufficient Sleep in Adolescents and Young Adults: An Update on Causes and Consequences

“…[128][129][130][131] The fact that sleepiness could be a major factor in individuals without known sleep disorders was not universally accepted until the landmark paper 132 by Pack et al in 1995. This group reviewed crash reports from the state of North Carolina between 1990 and 1992 in which the driver was judged to have fallen asleep behind the wheel.…”

Vigilance, alertness, or sustained attention: physiological basis and measurement

“…Drowsiness is known to be a major factor in automobile crashes (Mitler, 1988) reviewed in (George, 2004), with the incidence of crashes over the day being coincident with the expected nadirs in circadian rhythm (Garbarino et al, 2001;Horne and Reyner, 1995;Mitler, 1988). Even minor amounts of sleep deprivation may impair simulated driving performance (Arnedt et al, 2001).…”

Conjoint influence of mind-wandering and sleepiness on task performance.

“…In addition, sleepiness is recognized as a major cause of driving accidents (e.g., Connor et al, 2002;Garbarino, Nobili, Beelke, De Carli, & Ferrillo, 2001;MacLean, Davies, & Thiele, 2003) and poorer academic performance (e.g., Curcio, Ferrara, & De Gennaro, 2006;Gaultney, 2010;Gomes, Tavares, & de Azevedo, 2011).…”