BOSTON -- State lawmakers have proposed some new laws and education efforts to get people to take drowsy driving more seriously.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans admit to driving while feeling drowsy, and every hour one person dies from a drowsy-driving accident, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

State Sen. Richard Moore is pushing for new laws that would address the danger of drowsy driving, including making vehicular homicide a felony instead of a misdemeanor. The bill would also expand highway safety measures and education.

“We need to train the accident investigators as to what to look for, what kind of questions to ask,” he said. “We would begin to develop a base that would help to document to the public what the problem is and how widespread it is.”

Drowsy driving causes 22 percent of crashes, whereas cell phone use accounts for 2 percent of crashes, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s professor of sleep medicine Dr. Charles Czeisler said.

Most people are in denial about the danger of driving while drowsy, he said.

“They think 'Well I’m just going to tough it out,' and they don’t realize that when sleep pressure builds up to a certain point, the brain can seize control and will involuntarily switch from wakefulness to sleep,” he said.

People are so sleep deprived that turning the clocks back or forward can have a dramatic impact.

This Monday, after daylight saving time, drowsy-driving crashes will increase nationwide by 17 percent, Czeisler said.