Long-haul commercial truck drivers have a tough job. Often having to drive thousands of miles across the country on a tight deadline yet being forced to meet stringent transportation regulations and getting incentives for driving more often than what might be safe just because of the good money involved.

Maybe a recent study can help some drivers to put the brakes on such strenuous activity, and perhaps transport companies could help incentivize safer driving schedules.

Sleep and Driving, Not Simultaneously

NIOSH and the Virginia Tech Transportation Insitute worked together on a study that measured the effect of non-work sleep patterns of commercial truck drivers as they relate to the drivers’ driving performance during a subsequent shift of work. What was found was quite sobering, and should provide a caution to those drivers and companies who want to maximize income and profit by pushing their drivers to drive more miles each week.

The study did its measurement by looking at what are called safety-critical events, or SCEs, and lining them up with sleep patterns of commercial truck drivers and grouping them into four distinct categories.  The analysis of data showed that drivers who were male, had fewer years’ experience and/or had a higher-than-average body mass index had a greater risk of an SCE (crash, near crash, unintended lane change, etc.) across all sleep patterns.

However, one noteworthy result among the four categories of sleep patterns and work shifts was that the work shifts that had a shorter rest/sleep period led to a much higher SCE risk than those shifts that allowed for longer sleep time. In other words, even if there is a deadline, if a company wants to really be profitable, it needs to allow for a sufficient amount of sleep between work shifts and even for long-haul truckers who may be sleeping on the road – don’t push them, unless you enjoy taking the risk of hving to deal with liability and legal issues because of a mistake that a drowsy driver is sure to make at some point.

Drowsy Driving, in Pictures

In related news, the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) recently produced an infographic about drowsy driving, including the suggestion that drowy driving may be one of those underreported safety hazards. The infographic provides some pictures along with factual data that the NSF has developed over years of study.

The NSF recently noted that about 7 million drivers in the U.S. have admitted to falling asleep while behind the wheel at some point. This is admitted – who knows how many actually have done it and haven’t admitted? Might the number be double? Triple?

Anyway, using the data available, the NSF infographic has some valuable facts and figures that can help educate workers, drivers and supervisors about the prevalence of drowsy driving as a hazard, such as these facts:

  • Young adults age 18-29 are much more likely to drive while drowsy.
  • Men are more likely than women.
  • A lack of sleep increases the risk of a crash that is sleep-related.
  • Drowsy drivers are more likely on high-speed, long-and-straight and/or non-urban highways.
  • About one in four Americans say they know someone who has fallen asleep while driving. That could be as many as 40 million who have fallen asleep behind the wheel!