Is It Against the Law to Drive While Drowsy? |
Posted: July 20, 2018 |
While most Americans are aware of the dangers of driving while intoxicated, the seriousness of drowsy driving is not as well known. According to a 2005 poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, around 60 percent, or 168 million drivers, self-reported feeling drowsy while driving. Shockingly, 103 million individuals admitted to falling asleep behind the wheel. It’s crucial to spread awareness about the consequences and dangers of drowsy driving to help prevent drowsy driving accidents. Legislatures across the nation have attempted to enact laws to reduce this reckless activity, but few states have been successful in curbing this behavior. What Is Drowsy Driving?As the name suggests, “drowsy driving” describes situations where an individual decides to get behind the wheel of a car while sleepy. This situation usually happens because the individual just hasn’t slept enough; however, some drowsiness may be the result of sleep disorders, medications, working multiple jobs or lifestyle choices. Falling asleep or nodding off at the wheel is obviously dangerous, but many drivers neglect to consider how sleepiness impacts their attention span, reaction times and ability to make good decisions. Incredibly, one survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that one in every 25 drivers has admitted to falling asleep at the wheel in the past 30 days. Consequences of Drowsy DrivingAlthough society’s awareness about sleep deprivation has increased, it’s difficult to calculate statistics regarding drowsy driving due to a lack of data on the subject. The National Sleep Foundation has estimated that fatigued driving is a contributing factor in about 100,000 motor vehicle accidents every year, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) places that number closer to around 83,000 per year. Research conducted by the American Automobile Association suggested that both of these estimates were far too low. They calculated that around 300,000 car crashes are a result of drowsy driving. One of the most well-regarded studies on drowsy driving was published in the US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health in 2000. The study attempted to determine the effects of moderate sleep deprivation, and researchers came to a startling conclusion: when an individual had not slept in 17 to 19 hours, their performance on tests was reduced drastically. Their performance levels were comparable to having a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05%, and their response speeds were about 50 percent slower. While the exact number of drowsy driving accidents is unverifiable, it is probably just as dangerous as driving while under the influence of alcohol. Laws Related to Drowsy DrivingIn recent years, legislators have recognized the far-reaching impacts of driving while fatigued. Many states have chosen to dedicate days or weeks to raising public awareness about driving drowsy. The National Conference of State Legislatures lists the various resolutions that policymakers across the nation have attempted to pass. Several drowsy driving resolutions have been rejected, but seven states have successfully passed laws regarding this dangerous trend. In New Jersey, the state legislature passed one such drowsy driving law. According to the statute, an individual who hasn’t slept in 24 hours or more and decides to get behind the wheel is acting recklessly. The statute puts drowsy drivers in the same class as intoxicated drivers. This important law is often referred to as Maggie’s Law, and it was passed in June 2003. The law was put into place when one victim of drowsy driving, Maggie McDonnell, was killed by a driver who admittedly drove after being awake for over 30 hours. Without any law restricting such a reckless act, the driver was only fined $200 and given a brief jail sentence. With the new laws, a New Jersey driver who knowingly drives while overly tired could be charged with vehicular homicide. Despite a lack of laws against driving drowsy, statistics clearly indicate how dangerous it can be. One of the biggest reasons that our laws don’t reflect the seriousness of fatigued driving is because of the difficulty in proving cognitive impairment due to sleepiness. Unlike DUI accidents, there is no specific test or verifiable method the police can use to prove drowsiness. Sleepiness is often subjective. A lack of sleep may dramatically impair one individual’s cognitive functioning but hardly affect another person. Without a driver’s explicit admittance of guilt regarding driving fatigued, there is no guaranteed way to prove that sleepiness contributed to an accident. This factor makes it even more challenging to develop appropriate laws to regulate the dangerous activity. The assistant vice president of consumer safety for Nationwide Insurance, Bill Windsor, explains that he is “not sure how to effectively legislate for this problem.” Even in states like New Jersey where drowsy driving is punishable by law, these laws are virtually impossible for police officers and the courts to enforce without a verifiable method of testing. Courts must also consider potential defenses that sleepy drivers may utilize. Drowsy drivers may argue that they were tired due to working multiple jobs or due to a chronic sleep disorder. Despite these arguments, drowsy drivers should be held accountable for their reckless behaviors. When the criminal court system fails to provide recourse in a drowsy driving accident, individuals can pursue personal injury cases in civil court. Can Technology Help?Several technological advances have recently been created in an attempt to combat drowsy driving. Optalert is one type of monitoring technology that can help identify a driver’s drowsiness in real time. When drowsiness is detected, the system will alert the drier with a warning. Another type of technology, Panasonic, uses artificial intelligence facial recognition to monitor the driver’s expressions and eye blinks. An infrared sensor monitors the driver’s level of heat loss, and it will adjust the car’s airflow and temperature when it detects drowsiness indicators. Drowsy driving is nearly impossible to detect unless the driver self-reports being tired. Legislators have attempted to create laws to curb this reckless behavior, but tired driving continues to cause thousands of accidents each year. Public awareness campaigns and technological advances have been launched to combat drowsy driving, but more needs to be done to reduce our nation’s fatigued driving statistics.
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