From 1995 until 2014, I worked for one of the largest Canadian based carriers. In addition to my driving duties, I was also a driving mentor for new drivers, a member of the Driver Partnership Committee, dedicating to making the company as driver friendly as possible, and I sat on the ARC (accident review committee) reviewing accidents to determine exactly what had happened, and determine if the driver had done everything reasonably possible to avoid the accident. The result was I became very good at looking at a scene, and determining what had really happened. The reason I explained all this, is because of an accident scene I passed just south of Madison WI. It was horrendous, and my experience tells me the driver fell asleep at the wheel, and hit a bridge abutment at better than 90 mph (140+ km/h). The truck basically disintegrated and burned on impact. When I passed the scene, the fire was out, and I saw the drive axles about 3 feet from the bridge abutment. News reports say the driver survived, but how I’ll never know, But sleeping drivers usually do survive. So this blog is a simple safety rule. Do NOT drive when you’re tired, or drowsy. It is simply not worth the risk. Even if you’re only 30 minutes from your destination, if you need a nap, take a nap. Better to be a day late getting somewhere rather than coming home in a wooden box.
It’s been proven that tired drivers often experience “micro sleep” periods, where they doze off for a few seconds. That’s all the time needed for a horrific crash, and trucks don’t do fender benders. I’ve heard of cases where in a collision, the driver resting in the sleeper berth was ejected through the windshield if the truck. It happened to a friend of mine on Jan 6, 2000 just outside of Heart, ON when a drowsy driver with a load of logs hit the truck head on. All 3 drivers perished in the accident. When you do pull over for a nap, don’t just sleep leaning over the steering wheel. When you wake up, you may think you’ve fallen asleep at the wheel, and the shock could give you a heart attack. Back when I started driving, I was told of a driver napping over the steering wheel at a truck stop while he waited for another truck to arrive so they could switch trailers. The other truck arrived, saw him napping over the wheel, and decided to have some fun. He pulled up windshield to windshield (both trucks were cab overs) and blew the air horn. The sleeping driver bolted upright, saw another truck literally in his lap, and died of a heart attack on the spot. Never ever under any circumstances sleep over the steering wheel. If you’re tired, crawl into the bunk for a nap. Sometimes all you need is 15 or 20 minutes.
