Drowsy driving isn’t something we take the time to think about.
Driving home late from the gym, I blast music to keep me focused. In the mornings, I have my sister chatter away in the seat next to me. No big deal.
Then a few weeks ago three of my friends totaled their car coming home from a football game when one of them fell asleep at the wheel. No one was seriously hurt.
Studies show that the number of high school aged kids involved in drowsy driving crashes far exceed those in higher age brackets. Totaling as many as 300,000 accidents a year.
We already know a way to fix this.
Studies show that later school start times lead to fewer drowsy driving accidents. One Virginia study is used to promote later high school start times, but the effort is being met with resistance because schools would have to change the way they do business.
But shouldn’t adults in charge afford the same attention to our safety that they do to our academics?