The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation charged with preventing injuries and fatalities from commercial vehicle accidents on our nation's highways. One way the FMCSA increases truck safety is through its Office of Research and Technology. The Office of Research and Technology recently undertook a study examining how sleep apnea affected the accident rates of commercial vehicle drivers and the risks of commercial truck drivers with sleep apnea and found results that may surprise some people.
Sleep apnea can be dangerous for anybody, but for commercial truck drivers in particular, the consequences for driving while drowsy can be deadly. In an industry that is already prone to truck driver fatigue, sleep apnea can cause a driver to fall asleep at the wheel or overlook critical safety measures.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a condition that causes a person to stop breathing, or breathe very shallowly, while sleeping, due to a narrowing of the upper airway. The interruptions in breathing may occur anywhere from five to 30 times an hour and can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. The sleeper typically resumes breathing normally on his or her own, often making a loud snorting or choking sound when doing so.
The problem with sleep apnea is that it causes a sleeper to shift from a deep sleep into a lighter sleep during these periods of shallow or delayed breathing. The end result is a less restful sleep that frequently leaves people with sleep apnea tired throughout the daytime. Sleep apnea is one of the most common causes of daytime drowsiness, according to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
FMSCA Study
Researchers at the FMCSA looked at crash data in the University of Pennsylvania (U Penn) sleep apnea database and the FMCSA Motor Carrier Management Information System (MCMIS) crash database, comparing the accident rates of truck drivers with sleep apnea to the accident rates of drivers without the condition. Researchers found that the prevalence of sleep apnea is the same in the commercial truck driver population as it is in the general population. About one third of drivers involved in the study had moderate to severe sleep apnea.
The study also revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between the accident rates of truck drivers with sleep apnea compared to those without sleep apnea.
Dangers of Driving with Sleep Apnea
While the study found that truck drivers with sleep apnea were not more likely to be involved in accidents, sleep apnea in commercial truck drivers does present some safety concerns. Sleep apnea causes people who have it to suffer from daytime fatigue. When a person driving is tired, his or her reflexes and reaction times are slower. Drivers who are fatigued are less alert and aware of danger. Fatigued driving can be particularly deadly when the driver is handling a large commercial vehicle.
The concern over fatigued driving led to the creation of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Act, which governs the amount of sleep drivers need between shifts and restricts the types of loads they may carry. Motor carrier safety regulation violations that lead to accidents are often the basis of negligence actions against drivers and the trucking companies they represent.
The FMCSA study calls attention to the dangers of truck drivers driving while fatigued - no matter what the cause of the tiredness. Fatigued drivers cause accidents. If you have been involved in an accident with a commercial truck, contact an experienced personal injury attorney who can review your options with you.
