The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has laws prohibiting truck
drivers from operating their vehicles for more than 11 hours over the
course of a day. All 11 hours of driving have to be completed within 14
hours of the time a driver went on duty.
Despite these rules, a Wal-Mart truck driver was reportedly awake for more
than 24 hours and was still behind the wheel. That driver now faces criminal
charges for causing the deadly accident that left comedian Tracy Morgan
seriously injured. The trucker is accused of breaking the law and taking
a big risk with the lives of other motorists by driving while fatigued.
Drowsy driving can cause the same types of impairment as
driving drunk. A fatigued motorist has delayed reaction time and his judgment will suffer.
Driving after being awake for 24 hours is the equivalent of having a blood-alcohol
content of .10, and driving after being awake for 18 hours is the equivalent
of having a BAC of .05. While .10 is above the legal limit, even a .05
BAC can significantly increase the chances that an accident will happen.
Most people know that
drowsy driving is dangerous, but many people do it anyway. A study conducted by the AAA
Foundation for Traffic Safety revealed that 96.3 percent of motorists
disapproved of those who drove when too tired to keep their eyes open.
Yet despite the disapproval, 26.3 percent of motorists had driven while
they were having a hard time staying awake over the course of the 30 days
before the survey.
Drowsy driving is the cause of 15 to 33 percent of fatal accidents in the
United States. Yet, people are much more likely to drive when fatigued
than they are to drive when they are either drunk or texting on their
phones. A Public Attitude Survey found 38 percent of subjects had never
driven when they were tired, which means well over half of all respondents
had engaged in fatigued driving. By contrast, 91 percent said they didn’t
text and 95 percent said they didn’t drive drunk.
The general public seems to have internalized the dangers of drunk and
distracted driving more than drowsy driving. This may be because there
is more social stigma about these behaviors than about driving drowsy.
Research has shown that social stigma may be one of the most effective
ways to reduce undesirable behavior, so stigmatizing fatigued driving
could make a big difference.
A motorist who is too fatigued to be safe is a risk to himself and others.
If you've been the victim of a drowsy driving accident, you may be
able to pursue a claim for damages. Call
Metzger Wickersham today to speak with a member of our legal team about an injury claim.