Have you been arrested for driving under the influence recently? Were your charges for swerving lanes, or otherwise appearing to be intoxicated? Are you convinced that you were not under the influence but rather were suffering with severe drowsiness? If that is the case, you are not alone. Many individuals who suffer with too busy of a lifestyle and do not get enough sleep find that the car ride home from work can be one of the most dangerous times of day to drive. According to many studies driving while extremely tired is actually just as bad as driving under the influence, and yet in is very possible that the charges against you would not be as severe if you were to have caused an accident because of driving drunk.

Shocking statistics conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety claim that 41% of drivers will admit that at some point they have fallen asleep while behind the wheel of a car. To narrow down that statistic, that is an estimated 2 drivers out of every five people. They also have found that drivers between the ages of 16-24 are much more likely to drive while drowsy as opposed to those who are 40-59 years of age. The reason researchers are claiming that drowsy driving is just as severe as drunk driving is because just like alcohol, or even drugs, the drowsiness of fatigue results in less cognizant behavior. When this happens, a driver who is behind the wheel tired is less likely to be fully aware of their surroundings and their response time to a sudden change is much slower.

As a motorist, reaction times are vital to safe driving. In the event that you are driving on the freeway and traffic suddenly comes to a dead stop, you will need to immediately slam on your breaks in order to avoid a collision. Depending on the speeds you are driving, if you are unable to stop fast enough the damages could be severe and even fatal. Perhaps you are driving and about to reach and intersection when the light goes red, if your response time is slower you may not react the stepping on the peddle to speed out of the way fast enough or slam on your breaks. This could result in you hitting, or getting hit by, another vehicle. Technically, driving tired is not illegal but it can have the same disastrous results that drunk driving can have.

In our fast paced society today, many people are used to surviving the day off of minimal sleep. With a full time job, hitting the gym, activities with friends, and taking care of the family, the one thing that people often cut out is sleep in order to accommodate this busy life. We are all guilty of it. And yet, studies show that drivers who get behind the wheel with only 6-7 hours of sleep increase their chances of a car crash by double. The rates are even more alarming for those people who only sleep for an average of 5 hours per night for a long period of time, increasing their chance of an accident by 4 times the average person who sleeps 8 or more hours a night. Generally these statistics are for those individuals who are habitual in their sleep patterns, and for the many nights that a driver is able to have a good full night of rest their chances of safer driving do increase.

Nevertheless, drunk driving and tired driving coincide with one another in the results. If you were recently arrested for drunk driving, and you are convinced that you were not intoxicated, perhaps drowsiness caused the bad driving as opposed to the one martini you had before heading home. Contact a local DUI defense attorney for more information about DUI arrests and charges.