Many killed by drowsy drivers in US

NEW YORK: Darla Drentlaw was sleeping on her daughter Katie’s bed, waiting for her to come home, when she woke to the sound of police radios.

When the officers knocked on her door, she knew they had bad news.

Katie, an 18-year-old high school track star with blonde hair and a bright smile, had been driving home from a track meet that ended late at night.

She fell asleep behind the wheel about 12 miles from her house in Prior Lake, Minnesota. She crashed into a dirt embankment and was killed.

“I thought it was just a bad dream, but no,” said Drentlaw, 55. “I couldn’t believe she fell asleep and we lost her.”

Drowsy driving kills more than 1,550 people a year in the United States and causes 71,000 injuries, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which estimates there are 100,000 sleep-related crashes a year.

Although studies have found the condition to be nearly impossible to fight off without a caffeinated beverage or a nap, a surprising number of people are ignorant of the dangers.

“A lot of people roll down the window and turn on the radio when they get tired,” said Darrel Drobnich, a spokesman for the National Sleep Foundation. “That’s like saying, if I’m hungry, if I roll down the window I won’t be hungry.”

The foundation says 60 percent of drivers have driven while drowsy in the past year, and 20 percent, or about 32 million people, admit to having actually fallen asleep behind the wheel.