Drowsy Drivers Beware!

By Kerrin Leon White - September 19, 2000

Picture this:

In the early hours of the morning after an office party, you are driving home, dead tired. As the designated driver for four coworkers, you had to drop each one off before you could go home. You also had to spend the evening nursing a couple glasses of wine. You are sober but sleepy. In fact, you can hardly keep your eyes open. Trying to wake yourself up, you roll down the window, turn up the radio, and reach for a pack of gum.

Abruptly, you notice a police car behind you, lights flashing. You pull over, wondering what you could have done wrong.

"You were driving like a drunk. I saw you crossing back and forth between empty lanes three times. Have you been drinking?"

"Hardly," you say, "I had the bad luck to get selected as the designated driver for four other guys."

You readily agree to a breathalyzer test. It turns out negative. You give silent thanks for limiting yourself to those two glasses of wine, early in the evening.

The patrolman regards you thoughtfully.

"You look pretty tired," he says. "Do you usually stay up this late? I mean, you don't work night shift or anything like that?"

"You bet I'm tired!" you exclaim. "I'm used to going to bed by 11 p.m. and what is it now--2:30 a.m."

The officer looks straight at you, not at his watch.

"Actually, it's a little after 3 in the morning," he says. "Would you be willing to take an eyeblink test?"

"What's that?"

"Something new," he says. "It measures sleepiness. Don't you follow the news? It came out a month ago.

Do you refuse to take the test?"

"Go right ahead." His manner has made me suspect that it would be unwise to refuse. "I don't have time to keep up with the news. Too much work lately."

"Working hard, huh? Hard enough to cut short on sleep?"

You nod with a rueful smile. "Just this past month. We have a big project and a short deadline."

The officer administers an unfamiliar test. It takes only a few minutes.

You think to yourself that maybe you made a mistake, not keeping up with the news.

Studying his instrument, he says, "It confirms that you are extremely sleepy, half asleep as they say. Did you know that it's now illegal to drive when you're sleep deprived?"

This startles you. What's going wrong with the world?

"Why would they make such a law?" you exclaim. "It's outrageous!"

"They've found that sleepy drivers have a lot of accidents. In fact, sleepiness causes about as many accidents as alcohol." The officer pauses. "I'd say it was outrageous that a driver who hasn't gotten enough sleep ends up killing innocent strangers on the road."

You gulp . "What kind of fine does this carry?"

"Nothing but a warning, the first time, sir," the officer says. "The second offense gets you a $10 moving violation, the second $20, the third $40. Four violations and your license gets suspended for a month. You have to attend classes, also."

"Classes on what?" I laugh, but my voice quavers. "How to sleep?"

"How to get enough sleep, sir. How lack of sleep affects alertness, concentration, memory, reaction time, coordination, etcetera. How it causes accidents."

This both relieves and alarms me. "The fines aren't too high," you say thoughtfully, "but do they affect your insurance rates?"

"Just like any moving violation." Now the policeman takes on a more officious tone.

"However, we can't let a person continue driving when he's as sleepy as you are tonight. You need to park your car close by while I follow you. I'll drive you home."

This really wakes you up. "What?!" you shout. "Leave my BMW in this neighborhood? It won't last the night. Besides, I live ten miles from here. How am I supposed to pick it up in morning and still get to work on time?"

"Sir," he says gravely, "I recommend you call in sick to work tomorrow. It's too late for you to get enough sleep tonight, get up for work, and then drive safely. It sounds like you have a long commute. If you get stopped again, it's your second offense. Maybe you can get someone to help get your car. If not, I'm afraid you'll have to have it towed home. You shouldn't leave it here for two days."

Silently you curse the officer, your coworkers, yourself, and the idiot legislators who passed so ridiculous a law. You do not look forward to the ride home in the police car. Neither do you look forward to missing the next day at work, with everyone in a frenzy over the deadline. To yourself, you resolve to take a taxi back to your car in the morning, then drive on to work. How likely is it that you'll get stopped a second time?

"All right," you say meekly, "where should I park the car?"

Is this fantasy? Science fiction? Impossible? Implausible? Unlikely?

Well, at least it hasn't happened yet. It probably won't happen in the next few months. However, I wouldn't be so confident about next year.

You may comfort yourself by thinking it could never happen. However, the policeman spoke accurately. There is already a lot of scientific evidence available to support such a position. This includes the following facts:

Most people really do need a full 8 hours of sleep to function at their best. Seven hours is not enough.
Many busy people do not get that much sleep, at least on the nights before workdays. They make it up by oversleeping on weekends.
This means they accumulate sleep deprivation through the work week.
Staying up late for social reasons adds to the sleep deprivation.
Sleep loss/deprivation results not only sleepiness the next day, but also slowed reflexes, impaired concentration and memory, sometimes even poor coordination.
Sleepiness does contribute to many accidents, about as many as alcohol.
There exists a simple, objective test to measure sleepiness.
Already, people with known sleep disorders that cause sleep disruption and resulting sleepiness--especially sleep apnea--are getting special, adverse treatment by the courts.
Sleep apnea alone affects about 20 million Americans, the vast majority of whom remain unsuspecting, undiagnosed, and untreated. However, even more people suffer "voluntary" sleep deprivation--cutting their sleep period short--because of the many demands on their time.
A doctor who knows you suffer from excessive sleepiness, from whatever cause, and knows that you continue driving despite warning signs like "near misses" or actual accidents, may share in your liability with in case of a serious accident.
A doctor in such a situation would be not only empowered, but impelled, to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles and have your license suspended or revoked.
Does that imaginary situation still seem farfetched? Take care!

Already, people with known sleep disorders like sleep apnea have had their drivers' licenses revoked, just like people with epilepsy--or alcoholism.

That I can tell you with certainty. - I am one of them.

For more information on Sleep Apnea, please see our Sleep Apnea Section.