Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys Discuss a Dangerous Effect of Americans’ Lack of Sleep

If you are often tired, and if it seems like many other people that you know are also tired much of the time, you might begin to think that being tired all of the time is just a normal part of everyday life. Unfortunately, while being sleep-deprived has become “normal” for many Americans, our bodies are not designed to function very well with as little rest as most of us get. Many of us know that getting too little sleep over a prolonged period of time can have adverse health effects. What you may not realize is that even as few as one or two nights of inadequate rest can greatly increase the risk that you will nod off while you are behind the wheel.

In conjunction with the recent decline in the amount of sleep that Americans are getting, there has been an increase in the number of motor vehicle accidents that have been caused by tired drivers. Recent estimates indicate that drowsy drivers cause approximately 1550 fatalities and forty thousand non-fatal injuries in America every year.

Driving when you are very tired is actually as dangerous as driving while you are under the influence of alcohol. In fact, drowsiness and alcohol affect your body in similar ways. When people are very tired, their reaction time slows, their degree of awareness decreases, and their judgment becomes impaired. These physical changes greatly increase the risk of an accident. However, unlike their intoxicated counterparts, the bodies of tired drivers do not provide much in the way of physical evidence of their impairment at the time of an accident. Fortunately, crash scene investigators know what types of clues to look for when they visit an accident scene. One example of a situation which might cause an accident investigator to suspect drowsy driving as the cause of an accident is an accident scene in which there are no skid marks from the driver’s vehicle. That could indicate that the driver was asleep at the moment the crash occurred. Also, fatal or nearly fatal single-vehicle accidents are often caused by tired drivers.

Giddens Law Firm, P.A.: Personal Injury Attorneys Serving Clients Throughout Mississippi

If you were hit by a drowsy driver, or if you have lost someone that you love in an accident caused by someone who was too tired to drive, you may be able to recover for your injury or loss. Drivers who put themselves and others at risk by driving when they are too tired to do so safely should be held accountable for their actions. The knowledgeable and dedicated Mississippi Personal Injury Attorneys at the Giddens Law Firm, P.A. can help you by pursuing compensation for your injuries or loss while you concentrate on healing your body and your family. To find out more about how we can help you with your Mississippi drowsy driving accident case, please call the Giddens Law Firm, P.A., today, at (601) 355-2022.