The secret killers on American highways are drowsy drivers and it's time for doctors to do something about it, a medical panel says.
Drivers who aren't fully awake cause more than 1,500 traffic deaths a year. In 96 percent of the cases, the accidents involve passenger cars, not commercial drivers. There are about 43,000 vehicle deaths from all causes each year."This is America's hidden nightmare," said Dr. William Dement, director of Stanford University's sleep disorders program. He said the vast majority of highway accidents are not properly investigated as fatigue-related.
A panel of the American Medical Association panel on Monday called on the AMA to suggest guidelines for drivers to avoid falling asleep at the wheel.
The AMA's Council on Scientific Affairs said more research, enforcement and education are needed to keep drivers from becoming dangerously drowsy. The Council also called for guidelines to license commercial and private drivers with sleep-related disorders.
The council made no specific recommendations about the regulation of drivers with sleep disorders, which can range from sleep apnea, in which the momentary closing of an airway awakens a person repeatedly, to chronic fatigue caused by a lack of sleep.
"It's very poorly understood by the American public," said Dement, who also chairs the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research. "The American Medical Association now has a chance to be a leader in this whole area."
The AMA House of Delegates, which sets policy for the 296,000-member group, will vote on the council's recommendations at the group's annual meeting this week.
The council recommends that:
-The National Institutes of Health and other groups support more research on the prevalence of sleep-related disorders.
-The Department of Transportation study the links between crashes and operator alertness and sleep.
-The AMA urge federal agencies to improve enforcement of existing regulations for truck-driver work periods and consecutive working hours, and increase awareness of the hazards of driving while fatigued.