Anyone who chooses to get behind the wheel when they are drowsy, is putting their own life and the lives of others at risk. Unfortunately, we do not always recognized how tired we really are, because fatigue can cloud your ability to judge and recognize your own sleepiness, especially when it is the result of chronic sleep deprivation. For many truck drivers, sleep deprivation is just a normal part of life. As a result, a large portion of truck accidents involve driver fatigue.
HOS and Sleep Deprivation
Hours of Service (HOS) rules were created to minimize truck driver fatigue by strictly controlling how much time they spend on-duty, how much time they spend operating the truck, when they take breaks and for how long. The problem with relying on HOS as a way to prevent sleepiness and fatigue is that the conditions and the human body do not always cooperate.
Many truck drivers’ schedules require that they driver overnight or on an irregular schedule. This can put driving and sleeping times at odds with the circadian rhythm which governs the body’s natural sleep/wake cycles. Drivers who are forced to take breaks at times when they simply cannot sleep, will suffer sleep deprivation no matter how diligently they adhere to HOS rules.
Of course, many drivers do not follow the rules. Trucking companies are notorious for encouraging HOS violations, and teaching drivers how to falsify their logs to cover their tracks.
How Sleep Deprivation Contributes to Accidents
A sleep-deprived driver is an impaired driver, no matter what type of vehicle they are driving. However, driving a large commercial truck requires more skill, better decision making, and quicker reaction time than driving the average passenger vehicle. That is why commercial drivers must have extensive training and pass rigorous tests.
Sleep deprivation affects driving in many ways including:
- Slows down reaction time
- Impairs judgment and decision making
- Causes microsleeeps behind the wheel
- Decreases alertness
- Impairs attention
