According to research, one out of five fatal crashes involves a sleep-deprived driver. Is it time for the law to intervene?
Driving while sleep deprived can be as dangerous as driving drunk. Drowsy drivers are almost five times more likely to be involved in a car accident and according to research they’re involved in 21% of all fatal car crashes.
So why is it that we prosecute drivers who are over the legal alcohol limit, but let drowsy drivers get away with it?
A public safety issue
Musing on how we could implement a drowsy driving law, we can look at what happened with texting and driving. As drivers and lawmakers became more aware of the dangers of texting while driving, Legislature put a law in place to ban and punish texting while driving.
In Michigan, this law is MCL 257.602b. However, enforcing this law is another thing entirely. Attorney Gursten has written about the number of car accidents in Michigan due to texting and driving and how the state should do more to stop people from texting and driving on our roads.
The same rationale can be made for drowsy driving. The dangers that drowsy driving poses to the public are very similar to both texting and driving and to drinking and driving.
If the same public safety rationale can be made, and if the dangers posed to the public are similar, then the Legislature can implement a similar law to protect the public from “drowsy driving.”
The science of driving drowsy
Here’s what we know about the dangers of “drowsy driving”:
A drowsy driver who has had less than five hours of sleep is nearly five times more likely to be involved in an auto accident. (“Why do people have drowsy driving crashes?,” AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Page 50 (1999))
The impairment level of a driver who has gone for 17-19 hours without sleep is “equivalent or worse than” the impairment level for a driver with a B.A.C. of 0.05%. (“Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication,” Occupational & Environmental Medicine (2000)
A “drowsy driver” is involved in 21% of all fatal crashes, nationwide, every year. Additionally, “approximately 328,000 police-reported crashes each year,” nationwide, “involve a drowsy driver.” (“Prevalence of Motor Vehicle Crashes Involving Drowsy Drivers”, United States, 2009-2013,” AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Pages 1 and 7 (November 2014))
“Fatigue” as a condition of the driver involved in Michigan fatal and injury crashes increased approximately 6% between 2010 and 2014. (Michigan Traffic Crash Facts (MTCF), “Driver Condition”)
Which U.S. states have drowsy driving laws?
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ “Summaries of Current Drowsy Driving Laws,” only two states have passed laws that specifically address “drowsy driving.”
Arkansas amended its “Negligent Homicide” statute (Arkansas Code 5-10-105(a)(1)(D) and (c)(1) in April 2013 to provide:
“A person commits negligent homicide if he or she negligently causes the death of another person, not constituting murder or manslaughter, as a result of operating a vehicle … [w]hile fatigued …”
“‘Fatigued’ means: (A) Having been without sleep for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours; or (B) Having been without sleep for a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours and in the state of being asleep …”
In New Jersey, the Legislature enacted 2C: 11-5(a) which provides that “[c]riminal homicide constitutes vehicular homicide when it is caused by driving a vehicle … recklessly” and that:
“Proof that the defendant fell asleep while driving or was driving after having been without sleep for a period in excess of 24 consecutive hours may give rise to an inference that the defendant was driving recklessly.”
Given the known dangers, it’s time for legislators to wake up and put an end to “drowsy driving.”
About the author
Steven Gursten is recognized as one of the nation’s top attorneys handling serious auto accident injury and wrongful death cases, and No-Fault insurance litigation. He is head of Michigan Auto Law, the state’s largest law firm handling car accident, truck accident and motorcycle accident cases for more than 50 years.
Sleepy drivers kill. So why don’t we have a drowsy driving law? appeared first on Sleep Junkies.