Long Hours At Work Turns Interns Into Road Hazards
Don't Drive While Drowsy
This past Sunday I blogged about the dangers of driving while drowsy. The main point of the blog was to point out some troubling statistics gathered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the topic. The NHTSA estimated conservatively that each year drowsy driving “is responsible for at least 100,000 automobile crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,550 fatalities.”
An article from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health caught my attention and I thought I might share the findings of their study:
First-year doctors in training, or medical interns, who work shifts of longer than 24 hours are more than twice as likely to have a car crash leaving the hospital and five times as likely to have a “near miss” incident on the road as medical interns who work shorter shifts. The article, “Extended Work Shifts and the Risk of Motor Vehicle Crashes among Interns,” is the third in a series of studies on the impact of extended work hours and fatigue on interns conducted by the Divisions of Sleep Medicine at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School in Boston.
The study found that the majority of interns routinely worked more than 30 consecutive hours, and they reported that they were awake 96 percent of their time in the hospital on average. Also, during the 12-month study period, interns reported working an average of 80 hours or more during 46 percent of work weeks and 100 hours or more per week during 11 percent of work weeks.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 70 million Americans suffer from chronic sleep problems. Sleep deprivation is associated with injuries, chronic diseases, mental illnesses, poor quality of life and well-being, increased health care costs, lost work productivity and car crashes. Sleep problems are critically under-addressed contributors to some chronic conditions, including obesity and depression. This is a huge population of potentially dangerous drivers. If you are tired and over-stressed you should avoid getting behind the wheel. If you are going to get behind the wheel you should make sure that you are thoroughly rested and if you get tired while driving pull over and take a short nap.
If you or a loved one is killed or injured in a Nashville automobile accident by a drowsy driverNashville automobile accident lawyer’s contact the experienced at Phillip Miller & Associates and take advantage of a free consultation to learn about your rights and remedies.
Phillip Miller is a Tennessee Accident Attorney specializing in
Phillip has an AVVO rating of 10.0 (Superb), has been designated as a “Superlawyer”, and is the President Elect of the Tennessee Association for Justice.
Click Here to Contact Phillip
