In 2004, the federal government (for whatever reason) increased the amount of hours that commercial truck drivers could drive and decreased the number of hours between shifts. Researchers looked into the impact of these rule changes over the course of several years and found:

• Drivers reported a substantial increase in their total driving hours after the rule change.
  
• Drivers reported spending more off-duty time sleeping.
• Rule breaking was about the same before and after the change.
  
• 20% of drivers reported falling asleep at the wheel in the last month.

Let me say that again: 20% of commercial truck drivers reported falling asleep at the wheel at least once in the past month. That is way too high.

The study (see the abstract here) did not link driver fatigue to accidents, but there is plenty of evidence to link the two. Until regulations change to help drivers get the rest they need, everyone needs to be alert on the road, commercial truck drivers and all other drivers too.

More on Sleep and Driving




Work schedules of long-distance truck drivers befo...[Traffic Inj Prev. 2008] - PubMed Result