A new study published in the scientific journal, Sleep, identifying that drowsy driving was a factor in thousand deaths every single year. Drowsy driving is believed to be a factor in up to 1.2 million collisions claiming the lives of up to 8,000 individuals a year. A 2000 report published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety identified that drivers who only receive up to 6 hours of sleep within a 24-hour period are twice as likely to get into a crash as those individuals who sleep 7 hours or more.

Distracted driving can also happen when a person is struggling to stay awake. It’s a deadly combination of distraction and drowsiness that can combine and injure or kill others. In an effort to better understand why people continue to engage in distracted driving despite the serious risks, lawmawkers, regulators, and academics have contributed a broad range of scholarship about the issue.

Researchers looked at 33,000 crashes and 4 million motor vehicle accidents that occurred across 2010. Just one hour of lost sleep can affect your ability to drive in a focused manner. More than one-third of individuals have reported falling asleep behind the wheel at some time or another in their life.

Most adults recommend that 7-9 hours of sleep daily is ideal for adults but statistics indicate that many people across America are not obtaining that. Sleep deprivation can lead to slower reaction times, impaired decision-making or lapses in attention. If you have recently been involved in an accident that was caused by drowsy driving, you may be eligible to recover compensation after consulting with an experienced attorney.