Sleep Deprived Drivers

Sleep Deprived Drivers

There has been an extensive research on the effects of sleep depravation on people. Sleep deficiency could be caused because of many reasons and not only because of sleep deprivation. There are many factors that can cause sleep deprivation for example sleeping at odd hours everyday, not being able to sleep well during the night, having a sleep disorder that causes lack of sleep. sleep is very essential for a person’s physical and mental health and well being, and sleep deprivation can cause a lot of damage to a person’s well being. There have been studies on mental health of people that are related to sleep deprivation and usually there is a strong correlation between mental health and sleep deprivation. Along with heath causes sleep deprivation can sacrifice person’s ability to make sensible decisions. In the article Dr. Baura says that fatigue and sleep deprivation are important safety issues for the long-haul truck drivers. Sleep deprivation can cause drowsiness which can slow down a person’s reaction time as much as driving drunk (Aubrey). Loss of the reaction time can cause fatal accidents on the road leading to deadly injuries.

            Sleep deprivation is the most important factor in road accidents caused by human error and reaction time (Aubrey). These accidents can vary from being a minor crash to a full blown collision that can lead to loss of many lives. Drowsiness can become very deadly fatality for truck drivers of long haul that have to behind wheels for long hours. To find the alertness in ling haul drivers, Dr. Baura conducted a round-the-clock electro-physiologic and performance monitoring in male truck drivers who were carrying revenue-producing loads in the trucks. The study was being conducted on four groups of 20 male drivers and 4 different driving schedules were taken into account. The driving schedules of the drivers were as follows; “there were five 10 hours trips which were from the US and four 13 hour trips schedules which were from Canada” (Long-Haul). These are continuous hours of driving that are scheduled in the 24-hour period in a day for a long haul driver. The results from the study showed that the drivers averaged 5.18 hours and and 4.78 hours of electro physiologically verified sleep per day over the five-day study. The actual hours varied from 3.83 hours to 5.38 hours depending on the shift that the drivers were scheduled for (Long- Haul). This is a fairly less amount of sleep for a person to be fully alert and function at their best, especially for a driver that is supposed to be a driving for 10-13 hours shift. For the study drivers were monitored for any drowsiness during their driving shift and at least 56 % of the drivers were had at least 6 min period of drowsiness during their shift (Long-Haul). During these 6 minutes of drowsiness lead to slow reaction time and during this time anything could have happened which could have lead to a major collision.

We are always warned against the risks of driving while being drunk or while being distracted on the phone. The accidents that happen due to drossiness a have high mortality as well. In the article by NPR it says that the less sleep the person behind the wheel gets, the higher the crash rate and the person who got who got only four or five hours of shut-eye had four times the crash rate — close to what's seen among drunken drivers (Aubrey). Driving while drunk is a huge crime that is punishable by law, but lot of people in United states are driving on just 4 to 5 hours of sleep which can be extremely fatal. In the research by Dr. Baura The truck drives only got an average of 4-5 hours of bed time which includes naps and night sleep which can be extremely fatal in long haul drivers. It is not just one day that these drivers survive on 4-5 hours of sleep, it is every night and it is found that Psychomotor performance is impaired if sleep is limited to five hours for two or more consecutive nights. (Long-Haul) Not getting enough sleep for consecutive can permanently damage the psychomotor and cause really severe health problems. The article from the npr says that Prior research has shown about 20 percent of fatal accidents in the U.S. involve a drowsy driver. Last year, a total of 35,092 people died in auto accidents in the U.S, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This was a 7.2 percent increase in fatal crashes over 2014 (Aubrey). To avoid these accidents, the articles, suggest to get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. If a person if feeling drowsy while driving they should stop and take a nap to avoid any lapse in judgment.  It also says that as long as a person gets at least 7 to 8 hours in 24 hours before they start driving, they should be fine.  A good night sleep is very important for the the driver before getting behind the wheel to be safe on the road and also keep others safe.

Aubrey, Allison. “Drivers Beware: Crash Rate Spikes With Every Hour Of Lost Sleep.” NPR, NPR,6

Dec. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/12/06/504448639/drivers-beware-crash-rate-spikes-with-every-hour-of-lost-sleep.

“The Sleep of Long-Haul Truck Drivers.” Flagship: Login, www.nejm.org.flagship.luc.edu/doi/full/10.1056/NEJM199709113371106.