Sleepy Drivers

[chetjester]

That was a good article by Jeff Jensen. Driver fatigue is a real problem.

He talked about circadian rhythms. I read a book called "Insomnia" by Steven King which really talked a lot about sleep rhythm. As an older adult, I have noticed that I want to go to bed earlier and like to get up early. It's so funny that older people try so hard to stay up late and can't understand why they are tired when they are walking around and eating breakfast at 3 AM!!!!!

I've been a real early riser since I was a child. I delivered newspapers while in high school and it required me to get up at 2 AM every morning to get those papers delivered. When I was married and had children, I worked 10 years for the Wall Street Journal and 14 years for the New York Times doing early morning newspaper delivery. First in Massachusetts then closer to home in Rhode Island.

Because of this, I find it very easy to drive at night.

But!!!!!! When 3 AM rolls around, something happens and I get sooooo tired!!! I open the windows. I sing (pretty badly, too). I eventually have to pull over and take a break, because, by then, I've eaten 50 Life Savers, 2 tubes of Pringles, 25 Star Bursts and 2 or 3 cheese sticks. Despite my sugar high, I'm so tired I can't function without a short nap.

Anyway, good article, Jeff. I have to blow my air horn so many times to wake a drifting driver. Talking on the CB is one of the best helps for a sleepy driver.

 

[greg334]

I am trying to find a really good site that explains all the different cycles and the experinments that the site owner did but this is no joke, I am too tire to go through the thousands of links I have right now.

Driving for 14 hours - it is time to go to bed .... soon

 

[babs3361]

I hope you are driving a van and not having to log. Cause when you fall asleep driving a van and run into my T/T I know I will not be killed. If you have to work that hard at keeping awake it was time to go to sleep along time ago. NO LOAD IS WORTH YOUR LIFE OR SOMEONE ELSES. And if you are logging then I hope you sign and log it just like you are doing it so DOT can take 1 more idiot company out of the picture. Nothing makes me more angry than when companies or drivers push themselves past the rules. We would not have the new rules if everyone would have followed the old ones. Running legal will bring freight rates up because there would truly be a driver shortage then and shipments would get ran to the highest bid. It is called Personal responsibility.

 

[chetjester]

Oh please. No where in that post did I say I was running illegal. I was just describing how tired I can get sometimes while driving at night.

I drive an 18-wheeler and I won't be hitting your vehicle because I stop driving when I am that tired. That was the point of the post.

 

[davekc]

I think anyone can get tired after any point of driving, depending on several factors.
With regards to Chetjester, he drove for us, and never had any type of log violation or safety issue.
One shouldn't assume too much without the facts.






Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[chetjester]

Thanks Dave. I started this post because I was impressed with Jeff's article on sleepy drivers. He did a good job on that one. The next best one I like by him was about drinking liquids. That also was a great article.

And, anytime he quotes me in an article I get really upset that he doesn't get a Pulitzer. lol

 

[grog111]

I was just reading in "entrepreneur" that this fellow made a million bucks by devising an alarm clock that works by use of sleep cycles. As an analyst for the stock market his analitical mind started tracking his wifes sleep cycles leading him to develop "sleeptracker" a watch that beeps to wake you during an optimal period of light sleep so you arise less drowsy. www.sleeptracker.com

 

[JeffJensen]

Chet and Linda,

Thanks for the kind words about the article!

Chet, I like your idea about the Pulitzer, but the only award that has been suggested was when a guy told me I should get the Darwin Award.

I'm not familiar with that one, I guess the committee will notify me by mail.

 

[redytrk]

GREAT ARTICLE JEFF...

Now lets talk about the rest a Co-Driver needs/requires while going down those rough roads.

The Government says the answer is minimum of 8 hrs in that bouncing box does the trick. For me the answer is,NOT. After the first four hrs every ripple in the highway.Every stop at the scale house,every stop of any kind disrupts. To say nothing of the worry that your co-driver is struggling with her/his drowsiness.

The point I am trying to make here is that no study I am aware of,considers rolling sleeper berth time.

It is one thing to preform sleep studies in a laboratory, but quite another to conclude those studies also apply to berth time.

Let them take their instruments along with me for a cross country jaunt,and their eyes would be opened.

I don`t know what the outcome of such a study would be. Sleeper redesign. Air suspension required. Revised hours required. Or a total ban on sleeping in a moving vehicle.

What ever the outcome I am convinced such a study should be made. Otherwise we will continue to keep our heads in the sand.

 

[chetjester]

Uh. Jeff. The Darwin Award. That is a reward given to an individual who does something so stupid it results in his death. Like bungy jumping off a bridge with a wire tied around your ankles instead of the elastic bungy cord. It removes your feet and doesn't stop the fall.

Those people receive the award because, hopefully, they won't be able to pass on their stupidity to the next generation.

I usually get an email from somebody each year with the stories of the latest winners.

 

[JeffJensen]

So, I guess that's not a good award, huh?

 

[ATeam]

You don't have to visit with many drivers about sleep to quickly conclude that people vary widely in their sleep habits and needs. Some can sleep well in a bunk in a moving truck, others cannot. Some could not sleep more than 7 hours a night if you paid them. Others very much need 8 hours of sleep or more to feel rested. When the split sleeper berth provision was modified in the hours of service rules, it took nap flexibility away from the drivers; not a good thing.

When trucker sleep discussions arise, I often wish regulators would also go after four-wheel drivers. We've all seen them...those walking zombies at rest areas with a car load of family members trying to make it cross country when they should be in bed instead.

 

[grog111]

the new HOS laws are a big part of the reason i won't run team anymore.

 

[highway star]

It's a tough call on whether the continuous clock or taking 5/5 away from teams was the most idiotic part of the new HOS. Studies have shown that proper rest can come in shifts, it does'nt have to be a straight 8 hours. 5/5 makes way more sense from a safety perspective.