Driving When You Are Drowsy is Dangerous for Everyone
Drowsy driving, a condition caused by sleep deprivation, has led to several car accidents, personal injuries, and deaths over the past several decades. Understanding the consequences and causes of drowsy driving car accidents may be able to help people avoid driving while sleep-deprived. This could potentially save hundreds of lives each year. However, if you suffered injuries after a drowsy driving accident, talk to a New York Personal Injury Attorney to see if you are eligible to receive compensation.
Consequences of Drowsy Driving
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), drowsy driving has led to 100,000 car accidents each year with 1,5000 deaths and 71,000 personal injuries. The total yearly 
economic losses from drowsy driving incidents like these lies around $12.5 billion. Despite these numbers, many people still choose to go behind the wheel with a severe lack of sleep.
There are various signs of sleep deprivation you can look for before continuing on a long drive. Feeling more tired is one of those signs, but so is excessive yawning, trouble keeping your eyes open, mild lapses in memory of what happened a few minutes ago, and making simple driving mistakes. For example, you may find yourself completely missing road signs or you may have to catch yourself from following too close behind other vehicles.
Signs of falling asleep for short periods while driving happen when you find yourself drifting into the wrong lane or hitting the loud rumble strips on the shoulders. You may find yourself suddenly jolting your head up. If you experience any of these signs, the safest thing to do is pull over and find an alternate way to reach your destination.
How Drowsy Driving Causes Accidents
A surprising fact is that sleep deprivation from an all-nighter has been shown to lead to similar problems with hand-eye-coordination as experiencing a 0.10% blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Staying up past 24-hours is not the only thing that can lead to daytime drowsiness, but so can sleep disorders, medications, and inadequate sleep.
The effects of sleep deprivation have been shown to decrease alertness, attention span, memory, concentration, awareness, and reaction time. All of these are key for avoiding last-minute changes to the road conditions in front of you while driving. Avoiding a car accident is difficult enough when you are awake, but imagine trying this while sleep-deprived. Errors of omission, forgetting to signal for turns or following the right-of-way, are also common.
Car Accidents Lawyer in New York
Figuring out what evidence to collect and what the legal process if behind filing a personal injury claim can be difficult after a serious car accident. Consider hiring a Camillus Car Accidents Lawyer if you suffered serious injuries after a drowsy driving accident. You could be eligible to receive compensation for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost wages.
At Gattuso & Ciotoli, we possess over 50 years of experience in four different areas of legal practice. Call us at (315) 314-8000 for a free consultation today. We are located in Central New York, Syracuse, Watertown, Binghamton, Syracuse, North Syracuse, Camillus, Liverpool, Cortland, and Auburn.