North Jersey waking up to the risks of drowsy driving - NorthJersey.com
After she dozed off while driving and drifted into another lane, a school administrator sought treatment this week from a sleep specialist at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, alarmed that she may have put herself and others in danger. The case will be prosecuted under Maggie’s Law: New Jersey was the first state to establish that a sleepy driver is reckless and can be convicted of death by auto, a statute other states have copied. And in another reminder of the perils of fatigued driving, the National Transportation Safety Board this week cited a Wal-Mart truck driver’s sleepiness as the chief cause of a crash on the New Jersey Turnpike last year that killed one man and... The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes are the direct result of driver fatigue every year. Multiple studies show what experts in sleep science, courtrooms and safety investigations encounter on a daily basis: Although the public is well-versed in the dangers of drinking and driving, they are still taking risks with sleepiness on the... “The fact is, sleepiness and driving is a dangerous combination” says Jeffrey P. Barasch, medical director of The Center for Sleep Medicine at The Valley Hospital. Studies show drowsy driving is as dangerous as driving drunk. Source: www.northjersey.com
