By Lindsey Stimpson
Two hundred thirty-one lives could have been saved in Utah over the past four years if drivers didn''t drive drowsy, said Peter Tang, A Utah Accidents and Safety engineer.
Driving while fatigued is a preventable danger gaining national attention. As special interest groups across the nation devote more attention to the problem, states are responding.
New Jersey is the first state in the nation to pass a law that makes driving without enough sleep a crime. Maggie''s Law - named after a 20-year-old college student who was killed by a driver who had been awake for 30 hours - does not mean police will be pulling over drivers whose eyes look heavy. However, if there is evidence that a deadly crash was caused by sleepiness, the driver can be punished with up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The law took effect last month.
Lawmakers in the states of New York and Washington are debating similar bills.
Utah Department of Transportation officials say driving while drowsy is a significant problem in the state.
'Fatigue related accidents are a very serious problem in Utah,' Tang said. 'A lot of it has to do with the fact that we have so many rural roads.'
Eighty-eight percent - more than 5,000 miles - of state roads are rural. Driving on rural roads puts drivers at an increased risk for causing a fatigue-related accident.
'Most fatigue related accidents involve just a single vehicle,' Tang said. 'Drivers easily get bored on long roads with not much to look at. Many of them doze off and when they wake up, they overcorrect their vehicle and roll.'
According to a North Carolina study, young people are most likely to be involved in fatigue related accidents. Fifty-five percent of all accidents related to fatigue occur among drivers 25-years-old and younger. Researchers say young, college-aged drivers are most likely to have fatigue-related accidents because they 'stay up late, sleep too little and drive late at night.'
Utah highway officials are taking steps to combat the problem of drowsy driving. The state highway safety division released a radio commercial alerting listeners to the dangers of driving while drowsy. Tang said he will propose to a panel of traffic engineers later this year that warning signs be placed strategically on I-80. The signs read, 'Danger: Fatigue Driving Kills - Pull Over If Necessary.'
'There is still a lot to be done with that project,' Tang said. 'It is still in the early stages, but it shows we are aware of the problem.'
The National Sleep Foundation reports 63 percent of all adults say they have felt drowsy while driving. 23 percent of adults have actually fallen asleep while driving.
'I believe it,' Ashli Hansen, a BYU senior, said. 'My dad was in an accident because he fell asleep. He dozed off, and when he woke up, he was driving in the weeds. He bashed up the whole side of the car. Luckily, no one was hurt.'
According to the Associated Press, Judie Stone, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, said, 'It is always difficult to change people''s behavior just by passing a law. You have to educate people. Then you have to enforce the law.'
To prevent fatigue related accidents, the National Sleep Foundation urges drivers to get a good night''s sleep, drive with a companion -especially on long trips, schedule regular stops and avoid medications that may impair performance.