Protecting Your Family on the Road Starts at Home with Healthy Sleep

Main Points:

• Drowsy driving accounts for an estimated 1 in 5 fatal motor vehicle crashes on US roads, with parents and teens at particularly high risk. 
• 1 in 6 teen drivers have gotten behind the wheel while drowsy in their first two years of driving.
• Protecting your family starts with recognizing that sleep isn’t optional when safety is on the line. 

Parents, picture this: You went to bed too late after a busy day, you’ve been up since 5 AM, managed three school drop-offs, worked a full day, and now you’re driving to evening soccer practice. Your eyelids feel heavy, but you tell yourself it’s just a quick trip and you can push through your tiredness. What you might not realize is that choosing to drive when not fully alert is a form of impaired driving. 

The Numbers That Should Keep You Awake 

Drowsy driving accounts for an estimated 1 in 5 fatal motor vehicle crashes on US roads, yet it rarely makes headlines the way drunk driving does. The science behind drowsy driving is sobering. When you’ve been awake for 18 hours, your body functions as if you have a blood alcohol content of 0.05%. After 24 hours without sleep, it’s equivalent to a 0.10% BAC, well above the legal limit in all states.

But this isn’t just about extreme sleep deprivation. 6 in 10 drivers have operated a vehicle when they were so tired they had trouble keeping their eyes open. That’s over 150 million drivers who have put themselves and everyone else on the road at risk. NSF considers drivers unfit to drive if they’ve had less than 5 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period.

Busy Parents: The Overlooked High-Risk Group 

While we often associate drowsy driving with truck drivers or night-shift workers, parents represent a surprisingly vulnerable population. New parents experience significant sleep disruption which can lead to vehicle crashes. 

Even beyond the newborn phase, parents face ongoing sleep challenges. In fact, families with infants and those with teens drive drowsy more often. Whether drowsiness is caused by late shifts at work, school and sports pickup, or long drives for the holidays, the negative outcomes can be the same: car crashes. 

The Teen Factor

Teenagers present another critical piece of the family drowsy driving equation. 1 in 6 teen drivers have gotten behind the wheel while drowsy in their first two years of driving. This combination is particularly dangerous: sleepy teens driving with limited skills and little experience pose a danger to themselves and others on the road.

Parents need to understand that teens are particularly vulnerable. Many teens don’t get enough sleep at a stage when their biological need for sleep is high, which makes them vulnerable to the risk of drowsy-driving crashes.  Most teens say schoolwork and jobs are the main factors that keep them from getting the sleep they need to drive alert. Teen drivers with jobs are more than twice as likely to drive drowsy as those without jobs.

Recognizing the Warning Signs 

The symptoms of drowsy driving can appear before you know it. Watch for these critical warning signs: 

• Frequent yawning or blinking 
• Difficulty remembering the past few miles 
• Missing exits or traffic signs 
• Drifting from your lane 
• Hitting rumble strips 
• Having trouble keeping your eyes open 

Beyond Individual Responsibility: A Family Safety Strategy 

Protecting your family from drowsy driving requires a shift in thinking. Families can also be a powerful force for prevention. More than 7 in 10 U.S. adults (72%) have urged someone not to drive when too tired, with family members being the most common recipients of these interventions. Consider these evidence-based strategies: 

For Parents: 

• Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night.
• Before long  trips, prioritize getting a good night’s sleep.
• Share driving responsibilities when possible. 
• Consider alternatives to driving when sleep-deprived, just as you would after drinking. 

For Teens: 

• To improve their chances for good sleep, establish and enforce regular bedtimes and limit electronic device use before bed. Teens should sleep between 8-10 hours a night.
• Monitor and limit nighttime driving as your state’s young driver licensing law requires. 
• Have honest conversations about drowsy driving being as dangerous as drunk driving. 
• Encourage your teen to be a model for good sleep and driving for their friends. 

The Bottom Line: Sleep First. Drive Alert. 

Being awake and alert in the driver’s seat is as important as not driving under the influence. Our responsibility to ourselves and others is to not drive while sleep deprived. This perspective shift is crucial for families. We wouldn’t want car keys in the hands of someone who’s sleep deprived, just like we wouldn’t want them in the hands of someone who’s been drinking.

An important family value can be sleep is important, and it’s a basic safety requirement for driving, Our family’s safety, and the safety of everyone sharing the road with you, depends on making healthy sleep a priority instead of an option!

Every trip matters, whether it’s the morning school run, the evening commute, or weekend family adventures. Before you turn that key, ask yourself: am I alert enough to help keep everyone in this car safe as well as everyone we’ll encounter on the road?  

A message from Waymo: With more than 100 million miles of autonomous driving experience, Waymo’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted driver. From increasing independence to improving mobility access, we want to help people safely get where they’re going.