Drowsy Driving Prevention Week runs November 1–7, 2026, and its message is blunt: a sleepy driver is an impaired driver. The National Sleep Foundation started the campaign and still leads it each fall.
Dates for the Week
Every year in early November, starting on the first Sunday of the month and running through Saturday. In 2025, it ran November 2 to 8.
No law sets the dates. The foundation picks them and announced the 2025 week on September 17, about seven weeks ahead.
Safety officials point people to it as well. NHTSA’s page on the problem names the foundation as the group behind it.
Why a Sleep Group Took On Driving
By its own count, the foundation has run the week for 18 years. Founded in 1990, the nonprofit produces the whole campaign itself, without outside partners named in its announcement.
Mark Rosekind, a former head of NHTSA, put the case plainly in 2025. “Drowsy driving is impaired driving and can be as dangerous as driving under the influence of alcohol,” he said.
Federal numbers back him up. NHTSA estimates that in 2017, 91,000 police-reported crashes involved drowsy drivers, injuring about 50,000 people and killing nearly 800.
Those counts are probably too low. Clues of sleepiness are hard to find after a crash, the agency explains. In 2024, 644 deaths were tied to drowsy-driving crashes.
What the Week Is Trying to Change
Most people already know the risk. In the foundation’s polling, 95% of Americans called drowsy driving risky.
Yet 62% of drivers admitted driving while so tired they could barely keep their eyes open. NSF projects that to more than 150 million U.S. motorists.
Attitudes split sharply from drinking. Almost 90% of adults would likely skip driving after a few drinks, but only about half would skip it after too little sleep.
New drivers aren’t spared. One in six teens has driven drowsy within their first two years behind the wheel. NHTSA adds that many teens skimp on sleep just as their bodies need more.
Crashes follow a pattern too. NHTSA finds many involve a lone driver who drifts off a rural road or highway at speed, with no sign of braking.
Shift workers and parents of a new baby face higher risk, by NHTSA’s count. So do people with sleep apnea and anyone on a long, dull drive.
Rosekind’s warning sums it up: “A catastrophic fall-asleep crash can happen in seconds.”
How to Take Part
Learn the warning signs first. Drifting over lane lines or hitting a rumble strip means it’s time to stop.
Micro-sleeps are the hidden danger. They last four or five seconds, and at 55 mph a car can cover more than 100 yards in that time.
- Aim for seven to eight hours of sleep, especially the night before a long family road trip.
- Stay off the road from midnight to 6 a.m. and during the late-afternoon slump if you can, since sleepiness peaks then.
- Read medicine labels for drowsiness warnings, and take transit if a drug makes you sleepy.
- If you start nodding off, drink one or two cups of coffee and take a 20-minute nap at a lighted rest stop.
- Don’t count on coffee or energy drinks alone, because you may be less alert than you feel.
- Try the FMCSA Drowsy Driving Quiz linked from NHTSA’s site, then pass it to the teen drivers in your house.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Drowsy Driving Prevention Week an official holiday?
No. It’s a public awareness campaign run by a private nonprofit, which sets the dates annually.
Who is Mark Rosekind?
He sits on the sleep foundation’s board and once served on the National Transportation Safety Board.
Does the foundation hold other events around it?
Yes. It hosted a Drowsy Driving Forum in Washington, D.C., in late October, just before the week began.