I cringed as I viewed the video of a drowsy young man driving along and eventually nodding off just long enough to crash his car. It was a frightening sight to see him thrown around in the car and land in the back seat. (Or does he actually end up stuffed into the back window well?)     

No stunt man was involved in the making of this film clip, and it was not the product of Hollywood special effects. It's a real accident recorded by a DriveCam monitoring unit installed in the car. DriveCam is a company devoted to reducing risky driving behaviors by predicting and preventing crashes. The DriveCam recording device automatically saves video images before, during, and after hard braking, swerving, or collisions.

In addition to highlighting the danger of drowsy driving, the video also reminds us of the stupidity of not using a seatbelt.

The accident video brought back memories from decades ago when an intoxicated and speeding teenager smashed into my car. My girlfriend and I were not injured seriously; however, the other driver and two passengers were all unconscious, having been either thrown around inside or ejected from the car.

Driving accidents can be dramatic and tragic results of excessive sleepiness. I saw the DriveCam video at this year's American Psychiatric Association meeting while attending a symposium that focused on the problem of excessive drowsiness due to sleep deprivation or sleep disorders. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has estimated that each year in the U.S. there are at least 1,500 deaths and 100,000 crashes due to fatigue-related causes.

Take a look at the "Sleepy Driver" video and let me know if you were able to watch it the first time without cringing.