Sleepiness doubles teen car accident risk

BOLOGNA, Italy, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Sleepiness at the wheel and poor sleep significantly increase the risk of motor vehicle accidents in teens and young adults, researchers in Italy say.

Lead researcher Dr. Fabio Cirignotta, professor of neurology at the University of Bologna in Italy, finds adolescent drivers were twice as likely to have had a crash if they experienced sleepiness while driving or reported having bad sleep.

Eighty of the 339 students -- ages 18-21 and 58 percent were male -- had crashed at least once and 15 percent said they considered their sleepiness was the main cause of the crash, Cirignotta says.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, indicates 56 percent of students who had at least one previous crash reported driving while sleepy, compared with 35 percent who had not been in a crash.

"Commonly used countermeasures to fatigue, such as opening the window, listening to the radio, or drinking a coffee, are known to be short-lasting and, essentially, useless," Cirignotta says in a statement.

"The only effective countermeasure to drowsiness is to stop driving immediately, pull over to a safe place and nap for 10 to15 minutes."

Cirignotta says the students suffered from chronic sleep deprivation, while the students need some nine hours of sleep they get about 7.3 hours on weeknights.