Drowsy Driving Prevention Week: 4 in 10 Drivers Miss the Warning Signs, New Survey Finds
Drowsy driving is far more common than most people admit, and many drivers do not notice when it is happening to them. That is the message of the National Sleep Foundation’s 2026 Drowsy Driving Report, released October 29 ahead of Drowsy Driving Prevention Week, which runs November 1 through 7, 2026. The week begins as clocks fall back an hour, so it is a good moment for DuPage County drivers to take a hard look at how rested they really are behind the wheel.
What the 2026 survey found
The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) presented its new survey results at its Drowsy Driving Forum at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on October 29. The key findings:
- It is widespread. An estimated 145 million U.S. adult drivers, or 61%, have driven while drowsy at least once, and nearly 35 million do it at least monthly.
- The warning signs get missed. About 40% of adult drivers do not recognize the basic warning signs, such as frequent blinking, head-nodding and drifting from the lane.
- Technology is known but not widely used. Almost 6 in 10 adults (58%) are familiar with driver-alertness monitoring, but only 3 in 10 (31%) have used it, and 62% worry that data from these systems could be misused.
- Many want consequences. 62% favor making drowsy driving illegal when it results in a serious injury or fatal crash, and 39% say it should be illegal outright.
- Support for education. An estimated 91 million or more adults support requiring sleep and drowsy driving education as part of getting a license, and a similar number support requiring driver-alertness technology in all new vehicles.
Joseph Dzierzewski, PhD, NSF’s senior vice president of research and scientific affairs, summed it up: drowsy driving “is common, it’s under-recognized, and the public is ready for solutions.”
How big is the risk?
Hard numbers are difficult to pin down, because drowsiness is hard to prove after a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) counts 644 deaths in drowsy-driving-related crashes in 2024, and says its broader estimate for 2017, about 91,000 police-reported crashes, roughly 50,000 people injured and nearly 800 deaths, is widely considered an undercount. NSF, citing AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety data, says drowsy driving is responsible for one out of every five deadly crashes.
NHTSA describes a typical drowsy-driving crash as a single driver, often with no passengers, running off the road at a high rate of speed with no sign of braking. These crashes happen most often on rural roads and highways. NHTSA also warns that a seriously sleep-deprived driver can have “micro sleeps” of four or five seconds; at 55 mph, that is more than 100 yards traveled while asleep.
Who is most at risk, and why this week matters
NSF says young drivers ages 16 to 25 and shift workers are at the greatest risk of falling asleep at the wheel, and that drivers who have slept only 3 to 5 hours in the last 24 hours are unfit to drive. AAA, citing AAA Foundation research, says missing just one to two hours of sleep can nearly double a driver’s crash risk, and drivers who sleep only four to five hours have more than four times the crash risk of those who get seven hours or more.
The time change adds to it. In an October 30 release, AAA noted that “your body takes a few days to catch up” when it gets dark earlier. For DuPage commuters, that means the first week of standard time combines darker drives home, late-night trips on I-88 and I-355, and work zones with narrowed lanes and shifting traffic. We covered the daylight side in our note on darker commutes in DuPage and the lane closures in our tollway construction update.
Know the warning signs
According to NSF, these are signs you are too tired to drive:
- Frequent blinking or yawning
- Head-nodding or trouble keeping your eyes open
- Drifting from your lane or missing exits
NHTSA adds crossing over road lines or hitting a rumble strip to that list, especially when you are driving alone.
What this means for you
Here’s our take: not every drowsy moment ends in a serious crash. Some end with a scraped door, a curb-rash wheel, a clipped mirror or a dented fender from a drift that was caught just in time. Those near-misses are a warning worth listening to. A few habits help:
- Sleep first. NSF recommends seven to nine hours of sleep for most adults and eight to 10 hours for teens of driving age.
- Plan breaks on longer drives. AAA suggests a break every two hours or every 100 miles, and traveling with a passenger who stays awake.
- Don’t rely on coffee alone. NHTSA says caffeine helps only for a short time; if you get sleepy, pull over somewhere safe, such as a lighted rest stop, for a short 20-minute nap.
- Change plans if you need to. NSF says it is fine to stop, swap drivers or use a rideshare, and to speak up when someone else seems too tired to drive.
- After a minor scrape or bump, photograph the damage once you are safely parked. If the paint is not cracked, a door or panel dent may be a fit for paintless dent repair; cracked paint or a damaged bumper cover usually calls for collision repair.
Our team at EZ Tech Paintless Dent Removal & Collision is happy to take a look at any damage and walk you through your options. This article is general information, not legal or insurance advice.
Sources: National Sleep Foundation, “National Sleep Foundation Projects More Than 145 Million U.S. Drivers Have Driven Impaired by Sleepiness, 4 in 10 Can’t Recognize the Warning Signs of Drowsy Driving” (October 29, 2026); National Sleep Foundation, “Drowsy Driving Prevention 2026”; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “Drowsy Driving”; AAA, “AAA: Don’t Veer for Deer as Clocks Fall Back in Southern Illinois” (October 30, 2026). Accessed November 1, 2026.
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