Teens need a lot of sleep. Experts estimate that the average teen needs at least 9 hours of sleep per night. Statistics reveal, however, that the average teen sleeps between 7 and 7.5 hours per night. People who do not sleep enough, regardless of age, deal with constant sleep deprivation. We have all seen tired teens, and many of us remember being tired regularly as teens. Most people see this as part of life. A recent survey has revealed a potential danger with tired teens. That danger involves teen fatigued driving. The survey we are going to discuss below also identified some other troubling trends regarding possible miscommunication. Parents of teen drivers need to heed the warning generated by this survey and make sure that their young drivers are fit to get behind the wheel. As we’ve discussed recently, drowsy driving is extremely dangerous for people of all ages.
Liberty Mutual Insurance and SADD, or Students Against Destructive Decisions, collaborated on the research. The survey asked teens a series of questions, and the responses with regards to fatigued driving were surprising to many. These responses included:
The researchers formulated these data by asking over 5,000 teens and parents from across the United States to answer a series of questions regarding fatigued driving. Those interested in reading a full description of the survey can find it here.
We all understand that teens are tired a lot. There’s a difference, though, between being a bit tired and being too tired to drive. The important question to answer is when that proverbial line is crossed. There’s no easy answer other than to trust the feelings of your teen driver if you are a parent. Otherwise, you can still do things to help minimize the chance that fatigued driving will lead to disaster. A few examples to consider are:
There are other steps available, but every situation is different. The bottom line is that parents need to be proactive in order to help their young drivers avoid accidents. Contact a San Diego car accident lawyer at Gomez Trial Attorneys as soon as possible if you’ve been harmed by a fatigued driver.
John Gomez founded the firm alone in 2005. Today, John acts as President and Lead Trial Attorney. He has been voted by his peers as a top ten San Diego litigator in three separate fields: Personal Injury, Insurance and Corporate Litigation. Since 2000, he has recovered over $800 million in settlements and verdicts for his clients with more than 160 separate recoveries of one million dollars or more. A prolific trial lawyer, John has tried to jury verdict more than 60 separate cases.
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