Drowsy driving crashes higher than federal estimates, AAA study shows

A new study shows that drowsy drivers could be putting an alarming number of motorists at risk.

The study, released by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, says that the percentage of crashes involving drowsiness is nearly eight times higher than federal estimates indicate.

The group says 9.5 percent of all crashes involved drowsy drives based on the portion of time the driver's eyes were closed in the minutes before the crash.

The new research provided comes after analysis of in-vehicle dashcam video from more than 700 crashes.

"Drowsy driving is a bigger traffic safety issue than federal estimates show," said Dr. David Yang, executive director for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. "Drivers who don't get enough sleep are putting everyone on the road at risk. By conducting an in-depth analysis using video of everyday drivers, we can now better assess if a driver was fatigued in the moments leading up to a crash."