Research

Awareness of driving while sleepy and road traffic accidents: prospective study in GAZEL cohort

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: 10.1136/bmj.38863.638194.AE (Published 6 July 2006)
Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:75
  1. Hermann Nabi, PhD research student1,
  2. Alice Guéguen, statistician1,
  3. Mireille Chiron, senior researcher2,
  4. Sylviane Lafont, statistician2,
  5. Marie Zins, physician epidemiologist1,
  6. Emmanuel Lagarde, senior researcher (emmanuel.lagarde{at}isped.u-bordeaux2.fr)1
  1. 1 Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U687-IFR69, Saint-Maurice, F-94415 France
  2. 2 Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité, UMRESTTE, F-69675 Bron, France
  1. Correspondence to: E Lagarde, Equipe Avenir “Santé et Insécurité Routière,” INSERM Unité 593, Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux 2, Case 11, 146 rue Léo Saignat, 33076 Bordeaux Cedex, France
  • Accepted 14 April 2006

Abstract

Objectives To examine the association between self assessed driving while sleepy and the risk of serious road traffic accidents (RTAs).

Design Prospective cohort study.

Setting France.

Participants 13 299 of the 19 894 living members of the GAZEL cohort, workers and recent retirees of a French national utility company followed up since 1989.

Main outcome measures Frequency of driving while sleepy in the previous 12 months, reported in 2001; rate ratios for serious RTAs in 2001-3, estimated by using generalised linear Poisson regression models with time dependent covariates.

Results The risk of serious RTAs increased proportionally with the frequency of self reported driving while sleepy. After adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics, driving behaviour variables, work conditions, retirement, medical conditions and treatments, depressive symptoms, and sleep disorders, the adjusted rate ratios of serious RTAs for participants who reported driving while sleepy in the previous 12 months “a few times” or “once a month or more often” were 1.5 (95% confidence interval 1.2 to 2.0) and 2.9 (1.3 to 6.3) respectively compared with those who reported not driving while sleepy over the same period. These associations were not explained by any reported sleep disorders.

Conclusions Self assessed driving while sleepy was a powerful predictor of serious RTAs, suggesting that drivers' awareness of their sleepiness while driving is not sufficient to prevent them from having RTAs. Messages on prevention should therefore focus on convincing sleepy drivers to stop driving and sleep before resuming their journey.

Footnotes

  • Contributors HN analysed and interpreted data and wrote the report. EL conceived the study and contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data and to the preparation of the manuscript. AG was involved in analysing and interpreting data. MC, SL, and MZ contributed to study design and interpretation of data. All authors contributed to the final version of the report. EL is the guarantor.

  • Funding Electricité de France-Gaz de France and Fondation MAIF. The funding bodies had no inputs to the study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the report; or the decision to submit the paper for publication.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Ethical approval The study protocol was approved by the French data protection authority (Commission Nationale Informatique et Liberté).

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