{"id":891,"date":"2025-03-12T19:17:21","date_gmt":"2025-03-12T19:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/?p=891"},"modified":"2025-03-12T19:17:21","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T19:17:21","slug":"psa-driving-while-sleepy-dws-is-as-bad-as-being-drunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/psa-driving-while-sleepy-dws-is-as-bad-as-being-drunk\/","title":{"rendered":"PSA: Driving While Sleepy (DWS) is as Bad as Being Drunk"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Public Service Announcement: Driving While Sleepy (DWS) is as Dangerous as Driving Under the Influence<\/h1>\n<p class=\"p3\">In July 2000, NBC\u2019s <i>Dateline<\/i> aired a segment highlighting a study led by Dr. Nelson Powell, co-director of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Center, which compared the driving abilities of individuals who were legally intoxicated to those who were sleep-deprived. The study involved 16 volunteers who first drove a course under normal conditions. Subsequently, they were divided into two groups: one consumed alcohol to reach legal intoxication levels, and the other experienced sleep deprivation. The findings revealed that sleep-deprived drivers performed just as poorly as those who were intoxicated, underscoring the significant dangers of drowsy driving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Current Data on Drowsy Driving:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Impairment Levels:<\/b><\/span> Studies have shown that being awake for 17 to 18 hours impairs driving performance equivalent to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05%, which is the legal limit in many European countries.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Accident Statistics:<\/b><\/span> In the United States, drowsy driving is a factor in more than 100,000 crashes annually, resulting in approximately 6,550 deaths and 80,000 injuries.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Recognizing Drowsy Driving:<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Be vigilant for the following warning signs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p4\">Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking, or heavy eyelids<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\">Trouble remembering the last few miles driven or missing exits<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\">Yawning repeatedly or rubbing eyes<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\">Drifting from your lane, tailgating, or hitting a shoulder rumble strip<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Safety Recommendations:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Prioritize Sleep:<\/b><\/span> Ensure you get 7-9 hours of quality sleep before driving.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Take Breaks:<\/b><\/span> On long trips, take regular breaks every two hours or 100 miles.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Avoid Alcohol and Sedatives:<\/b><\/span> These substances can increase drowsiness.<\/li>\n<li class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Share Driving Duties:<\/b><\/span> On long journeys, switch drivers to maintain alertness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"p3\">For more information and resources on drowsy driving, visit the National Sleep Foundation\u2019s website: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thensf.org\/drowsy-driving-prevention\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.thensf.org\/drowsy-driving-prevention\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Stay alert, stay safe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Public Service Announcement: Driving While Sleepy (DWS) is as Dangerous as Driving Under the Influence In July 2000, NBC\u2019s Dateline aired a segment highlighting a study led by Dr. Nelson Powell, co-director of the Stanford Sleep Disorders Center, which compared the driving abilities of individuals who were legally intoxicated to those who were sleep-deprived. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"PSA: Driving While Sleepy (DWS) is as Bad as Being Drunk","_seopress_titles_desc":"The driving abilities of individuals who are legally intoxicated are comparable to those who are sleep-deprived.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jaguar-bits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":892,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/891\/revisions\/892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jagbits.com\/techbits\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}