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March 8, 2017

A Deadly Combination: Sleep Apnea and Commercial Drivers

Latest posts by Atlantic Research Team (see all)
seat belt CMV trucks

There’s no question that driver fatigue poses a serious threat to safety on our nation’s roadways. But just how bad is the threat?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that 100,000 fatigue-related crashes occur each year, many of which involve professional drivers in heavy commercial vehicles. That means an average of 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $12.5 billion in monetary damages each year as a result of fatigue-related accidents.

So what is being done to prevent fatigued commercial drivers – specially licensed, professional operators of 18 wheelers, buses and other large commercial vehicles – from getting behind the wheel while they’re tired or fatigued? Well, as it turns out, not enough.

Driver/Employer Responsibility

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, specifically § 392.3 on ill or fatigued operators:

“No driver shall operate a commercial motor vehicle, and a motor carrier shall not require or permit a driver to operate a commercial motor vehicle, while the driver’s ability or alertness is so impaired, or so likely to become impaired, through fatigue, illness, or any other cause, as to make it unsafe for him/her to begin or continue to operate the commercial motor vehicle.”

That means both drivers and their companies have a legal responsibility to make sure that anyone suspected of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), or other similar condition, stays off of the road.

Recent developments in the law have witnessed the implementation of a number of “improvements,” including hours of service regulations, intended to help drivers get more rest during the work week. Unfortunately, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the new rules have done nothing to improve safety as they provide no means to effectively monitor hours spent driving.

Commercial Drivers More Likely to Fall Asleep

According to the NHTSA, because commercial drivers generally are required to drive long distances for long periods of time, often at night, they are more susceptible to falling asleep behind the wheel than non-commercial drivers. Disturbingly, research from the National Transportation Safety Board has confirmed that fatigue was the most frequently cited cause of heavy truck accidents, accounting for 30-40 percent of them, and was also the cause of 31 percent of the 182 fatal-to-the-truck-driver accidents studied.

Due to sedentary lifestyles and a tendency toward a high body mass index (BMI), commercial drivers are at greater risk than non-commercial drivers of developing dangerous sleep disorders. While commercial truck drivers are required by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to undergo regular medical exams to spot dangerous medical conditions like these, many sleep disorders still go undiagnosed, or worse, ignored.

Read more at EHSToday.com

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