June 5, 2013
Previously published on May 23, 2013
Most motorists in Connecticut and all other states across the country have been there. You open the windows wide. You turn up the car radio. chomp gum, shake your head, chug down coffee, take deep breaths, even slap your cheeks. According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), none of those activities -- either alone or in concert -- really changes one whit the degree to which you are a dangerous driver when drowsy and more prone to being involved in a car accident. And make no mistake about it: Drowsy drivers are dangerous. In fact, the NHTSA states that more than 11,000 roadway fatalities owed to sleepy motorists over a recent 10-year period. That number of dire outcomes makes drowsy driving every bit as problematic out on the roads as is drinking and driving, which makes it puzzling for some safety advocates why it isn't being more prominently addressed. "It's just as bad as drinking and driving," says Mark Rosekind, an ex-director of a sleep research center and current National Transportation Safety Board member. "As far as public awareness, drowsy driving is in the dark ages compared to that, but it's just as dangerous." Some efforts have been made to legislate against it, but doing so in a way that makes sense -- that can effectively measure over-the-top fatigue in drivers and fairly enforce against violations -- is flatly difficult, say a number of persons who have closely studied the problem. Thus far New Jersey is the only state to have passed a law focused on drowsy driving, but the burden that prosecutors have in establishing a motorist's recklessness is difficult: They must prove that a driver was awake for at least one day without sleep before being involved in an accident. The default tack that is emphasized by most safety advocates is, unsurprisingly, educational campaigns and a constant reminder to motorists to pull off the road when overly tired.
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