Drowsy Driving Prevention Week® is November 1 – 7, 2026
With Daylight Savings Time pushing all our clocks back an hour on November 1st, having a national awareness campaign on the dangers of drowsy driving during the first week of November seems smart.
This week, all across the country, safety agencies, government regulators, and advocates for accident victims and their loved ones will be participating in an annual “public health campaign” hosted by the National Sleep Foundation (“NSF”). From the NSF:
The National Sleep Foundation’s Drowsy Driving Prevention Week® encourages everyone to prioritize sleep and drive when they are alert and refreshed. Our goal is to help people get the sleep they need and reduce the number of drivers who choose to drive while sleep-deprived.
Together, we can help people drive alert and work to prevent thousands of motor vehicle crashes each year.
Drowsy Driving Kills: Dangers for All Drivers
Drowsy driving is extremely dangerous for all drivers, both those operating passenger vehicles (“4-wheelers”) as well as those operating large commercial trucks, like all the semis, tractor-trailers, and 18-wheelers rumbling along the roadways of Illinois and Indiana. Sadly, drowsy driving accidents are almost always preventable, while thousands of people each year lose their lives in crashes related to driving drowsy.
Illinois’ renowned safety agency, the National Safety Council (“NSC”), warns that while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings show that 1 in 25 drivers report they have fallen asleep at the wheel, the danger is much higher than these numbers may suggest. The NSC reports that an “…estimated 6400 people die annually in crashes involving drowsy driving according to the National Sleep Foundation.”
Using these statistics, the safety researchers find that 17 people die every single day in this country in a motor vehicle accident related to drowsy driving.
And for drivers in our “Crossroads of America,” with our unique weather conditions and notoriously congested roads coupled with our heavy semi-truck traffic volume, these statistics may be much higher.
What is Drowsy Driving?
Also known as “fatigued driving,” drowsy driving is considered a type of impaired driving by federal regulation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) defines drowsy driving as follows:
Drowsy driving occurs when a person operates a motor vehicle when too fatigued or sleepy to stay alert, making the driver less aware of their surroundings. After 17 consecutive hours awake, impairment is estimated to be equivalent to having a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .05 and after 24 hours awake, impairment is estimated to be equivalent to a BAC of .10.
According to the NSC, fatigued driving can happen to drivers, no matter how conscientious they may be, because of the realities of today’s daily life. Sometimes, drivers are simply not getting enough sleep over several days. Or, they may suffer health issues that impact the quality of their sleep so they wake up tired. Medications can contribute to drowsiness, too. Split shifts can caused fatigued driving. So can monotonously driving for long stretches on the road for professional drivers.
For more, read: Fatigued, Tired Drivers Said to Cause 20% of All U.S. Traffic Deaths: Drowsy Drivers at Fault?
Scientists and medical researchers continue to study the impact of fatigue on a human being’s ability to safely drive a vehicle. Drowsy driving is dangerous for any driver but it is a particular concern for researchers when a large vehicle is involved, driven by someone with a commercial driver’s license.
Even seconds count. Being tired behind the wheel can mean that a driver just nods off for a minute. Consider this: a car traveling 60 mph will cover the length of a football field in five seconds. Five seconds. Inattention at that speed can bring death to the driver and others in an instant.
- For more detail, read the calculations and discussions of patrol car safety at “Time – Distance and Training,” written by the PDC Team and published by Police Driver on September 19, 2012.
Drowsy drivers are a risk of a horrific accident for many reasons. They may not be able to react fast enough to a changing road condition (think the sudden appearance of a road work construction zone in Project Rebuild Illinois). They may drift from their lane. They may have impaired judgment or spatial awareness.
For more, read: Danger of Deadly Drowsy Driving Accidents in Indiana and Illinois.
Drowsy Driving Especially Dangerous for Truckers
Large commercial trucks, filled with freight, are at a high risk of a severe drowsy-driving truck crash simply because of the size and weight of these 18-wheelers, tractor-trailers, or semi-trucks. Years of study regarding these dangers resulted in the federal “Hours of Service” (HOS) regulations that are intended to protect truck drivers from being forced to drive when they are tired or sleepy.
For more, read: Semi-Truck Crashes and Trucker Fatigue: FMCSA Regulations To Protect Against Drowsy Driving Truck Accidents.
Drowsy Driving and Catastrophic Truck Crashes and Motor Vehicle Accidents in Illinois and Indiana
As part of this year’s safety campaign, the NSF shares the results of its latest study into drowsy-driving, revealing how so many people remain unaware of how serious fatigued driving is today. Read, “National Sleep Foundation’s 2026 Drowsy Driving Report,” published by the National Sleep Foundation.
From the work of the NSF, as well as other respected organizations such as the Governors’ Highway Safety Association, the NSC, OSHA, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there is no real controversy that any driver, but especially a trucker, is at a horrific risk of suffering life-altering or deadly injuries in an accident when that driver is operating their vehicle while fatigued.
For anyone involved in a severe truck crash or motor vehicle accident, it may take weeks or months for accident reconstruction experts to analyze data; interview witnesses; test the wrecks, etc. before anyone may mention that drowsy driving may have contributed to the tragedy. In other situations, the fact that the driver was fatigued may be almost immediately evident.
Today, the NHTSA warns that the majority of drivers on our roads today get less than six hours of sleep a night, and this lifestyle may mean many of the drivers here in Illinois and Indiana are tired, fatigued, and at a real risk of drowsy driving. It is a legitimate concern of any accident victim to consider whether drowsy driving was involved in their crash, and if so, where legal responsibility may exist.
Not only the fatigued driver but various third parties have a duty to protect against drowsy driving. Anyone behind the wheel is obviously facing claims of negligence if they cause an accident because they have operated their vehicle in an unreasonable manner.
Their employer may be liable, too. An employer who pushed a worker to drive an extended period of time to meet a deadline may be found negligent. Anyone scheduling shift work that is clearly contributing to fatigue for workers likewise may be shown to be at fault.
Also read:
- Ridesharing and Traffic Fatalities: Driver Fatigue and Drowsy Driving as a Public Safety Risk
- Drowsy Driving: Do HOS Rules Make Us Safer from Fatal Truck Crashes?
- Coercion Is Illegal: When Truckers Are Threatened To Violate HOS Rules
- Shift Work Sleep Disorder, Worker Fatigue, and Danger of Severe Industrial Work Accidents
- Drowsy Truck Drivers: Commuting to Work Contributing to Fatal Truck Crashes.
Drowsy driving is a danger for many of us here in Illinois and Indiana. Protecting the public against this well-recognized hazard is the legal duty of not only drivers but others with control over aspects of the driver’s daily schedule or livelihood. This week’s Drowsy Driving Awareness campaign is to be appreciated for helping lessen this risk. Please be careful out there!
