Advocacy & Safety - Remedy for Drowsy Drivers

Long Haul Truckers must comply with rules that limit them to ten hours of driving each day.

But what about car drivers? Should all motorists be required refrain from driving when they are exausted?

What about drivers who commute more than one hour each way, and work at an eight hour job?
When the hours are added up , it comes to more than ten hours:
1+8+1=10
One hour going to work, eight hours at work, and an hour coming home equals ten hours.

I would like to propose a shorter working day.

Here is a website which promotes a four hour day:

http://www.iww.org/en/node/758

Some have suggested a six hour day and a four day work-week. But the four hour day would have some advantages.
A four hour day would give cyclists enough time to get to work.

I believe there should be a General Strike, and a four hour day should be the main demand.

I was in the Navy when the Soviet Union collapsed (March 17, 1991). Otherwise that week would've been a good week to start a General Strike.

If you want to work eight hours a day, go ahead, but I believe there should be more "part-time" jobs , which would allow cyclists adequate time to get to work. Cyclists can become fatigued, as well as motorists. Drowsiness sets in, and if your on the road when you fall asleep, or if a motorist falls asleep, a calamity can occur.

Sleep deprivation doesn't do anyone any good. Drivers can't see your bike if their eyelids close while they are driving.

Who agrees with me that a General Strike or Industrial Action might solve a lot of problems?

sure, businesses would love that. Pay everyone half as much and offer no benefits at all!

Actually a long haul trucker can drive up to 11 hours in a 14 hour period before requiring 10 hours of rest (USA laws). This is not counting weighting for loading and unloading, or some even load and unload there own equipment. It is actually not uncommon for a truck driver to be awake dealing with work for 24 hours but there not getting paid for it. Just because they are not driving doesn't mean they are not working. Thats why I don't do that any more, I'm tired of living in a truck and having no life.


As far are a longer or shorter work day I say work as long as you want and get paid accordingly. If you don't want a full time job go get a part time one. If to want to work longer get another job or put in for overtime.

Also if you are falling asleep behind the wheel after 8 hours of work there is something wrong. Your not sleeping like you should (your fault). If you plan your day around your job you should be just fine (I give a pass to the elderly and people with medical conditions). If your concerned about working too long and you can't ride a bike to work and back get into better shape or move closer to work. If you take your idea of a 4 hour work day I hope you like your bike because it will be the only form of transportation you could afford.

If you check out the IWW, you'll quickly find that they are about as close to communist as you can get, without officially being communist. Sure, some of their stuff is somewhat entertaining. But we hopefully all know that their proposals, if implemented, would quickly sink the economy.

I could go for a 10 hour day, four days a week. As it is I work 1 10 hour day, 3 eight hour days, and 6 hours on Fridays, which is almost as good since I get off at noon. Wouldn't want to start any later than currently though, which is 6 AM.

One major cause of long commutes is overpriced housing. Legislate fixed and finite limits to the selling or renting price of real property as a first step to a cure. Eliminate housing cost as a factor in commute distance.

One major cause of long commutes is overpriced housing. Legislate fixed and finite limits to the selling or renting price of real property as a first step to a cure. Eliminate housing cost as a factor in commute distance.

While the state can fix the price of any property, they cannot fix the cost.

Do you suppose a house builder would continue to build houses, if the state mandated that he lose money on each one he produced? Housing shortages are the cost of the state fixing the price.

Price controls always lead to shortages. Just to be clear, when I say always, I mean it in the sense of "EVERY TIME"!

Governments are particularly bad at distributing peoples resources for them. Individuals are infinitely better at allocating their own finite resources, mostly because they can better weigh their own preferences in what the relative value of various goods are.

So what's a way to reduce housing cost-induced mega commutes? Every so often you have to do what the MBA-types call "managing for results."

One major cause of long commutes is overpriced housing. Legislate fixed and finite limits to the selling or renting price of real property as a first step to a cure. Eliminate housing cost as a factor in commute distance.

With the Real Estate market bottoming out, as it has been doing, I don't think that is necessary , nor would it be popular with land-lords.
But maybe, at this time, with a record number of foreclosures, it might be a good time for cities to buy up houses. There is a real-estate glut right now, and it may be of mutual benefit if Government bought up some housing, and provide it to Government employees (instead of giving them a raise). If the Government bought up some of the excess houses right about now, it would stabilize the Real Estate market.

Oh, and I would add, that maybe factories could have some livable trailers behind their factories, so if an employee is too tired to drive home, after doing overtime, he could sleep the night in the trailer.

Sometimes a truck is late, sometimes the factory recieves a rush order for the next day, sometimes the second shift doesn't arrive.
Circumstances do happen where a worker is asked to perform overtime without expecting it. But I wouldn't want him/her to have a car accident due to drowsiness after a 16 hour double shift.

Circumstances do happen where a worker is asked to perform overtime without expecting it. But I wouldn't want him/her to have a car accident due to drowsiness after a 16 hour double shift.

Take a quick nap in your car?....... ....Just sayin

With the Real Estate market bottoming out, as it has been doing, I don't think that is necessary , nor would it be popular with land-lords.
But maybe, at this time, with a record number of foreclosures, it might be a good time for cities to buy up houses. There is a real-estate glut right now, and it may be of mutual benefit if Government bought up some housing, and provide it to Government employees (instead of giving them a raise).

So you want the Department of Motor Vehicles to be your new landlord? Good luck getting that sink fixed! :p

Perhaps you think FEMA could save the real estate market? Let's wait till they get New Orleans straightened out- those are folks you don't want to be dealing with too many things at once!



If the Government bought up some of the excess houses right about now, it would stabilize the Real Estate market.

If private citizens perceive the real estate as too risky at present market prices for their own capital, why should it be a good deal for taxpayers? While governments have a lot of money, it isn't free money. Every dollar they spend is a dollar that a taxpayer cannot spend. Governments can only spend dollars once, just like everyone else.

So where do the governments get the funds to buy up all that surplus real estate, bailing out foolish investors? Divert school funds? Raid approved capital spending projects? Raise taxes? Where?

Any property a municipality owns will reduce property taxes collected.

Why should a government attempt to "stabilize" any market, let alone a real estate one?

There is a two-step program that is the perfect remedy for drowsy driving. If you are drowsy, don't drive until you have taken ample time to sleep first. If you must start a trip when you are drowsy, get someone else to drive until you have given yourself ample time to sleep.

If neither of the above is possible, take some other form of transportation that does not require you to drive (train, plain, bus or taxi).

All the off-the-wall suggestions to treat some unrelated societal ill (or perceived ill) to address this common sense issue is typical of the sort of convoluted thinking that goes on in this country (USA). That's why I saw a news story about a school district trying to suspend an honor student for purchasing a pack of skittles from a fellow student on school grounds, or teens being brought up on sexual offender charges because one slapped the other on the rear (neither was antagonized by the incident, they were just observed by some over-zealous "enforcer"), or another charged with violation of a zero tolerance drug policy for unwittingly carrying two aspirin to school in a purse.

To combat distracted driving, a symptom that has plagued our roads since the invention of the automobile, we enact laws that ban the hand-holding of a cell phone in a car, as if putting the phone up to the ear somehow causes you to fall into a trance - lay it down and wear an earpiece, and you are suddenly alert again. Never mind all the distracting toys that manufacturers build into cars to stretch their profit margins, x-way stereos and trip computers, GPS units, etc.

Design cars capable of cruising for hours at 90, capable of speeds over 140 mph, spends gazillions designing and building visually uninteresting roads capable of accommodating these cars, then, slap speed limits and fines on anyone exceeding 55-65 mph.

Back-asswardness seems to have become the American way.

Caruso

Drowsy distracted drivers are indeed a problem, but for most the root cause is sleep deprivation, rather than "overwork." Technological partial solutions include rumble strips and in-car sensors which unobtrusively monitor motorist eye movements and other actions or responses. Individual responsibility and accountability are also crucial to preserving our freedom -- falling asleep at the wheel should be considered criminal behavior.

I would strongly resist the 4-hour workday and regulated housing price proposals expressed above. As the price of gasoline rises and the real estate market undergoes a long-overdue natural correction, some folks will elect to live closer to work.

The FAA requires pilots to have a minimum of 8-hours time off between flights, timed when the pilot leaves the gate till the time he/she enters the gate for the next flight. You bet the airlines are taking full advantage of this rule!

An example scenario: a pilot arrives at LAX 1130pm, by the time he's through customs and on a bus/cab/rental car, it's already 1200am. He gets to the hotel at 1215am, and watches TV to 'wind down' for 45 minutes. It's now 1am as he falls asleep. He needs to get up by 630 am if he's to make his flight at 730am. he only gets 5.5 hrs of sleep on a 16 hr workday.

On the other hand, another pilot arrives in London at 9am in the morning, having flown the redeye from NY the previous night. She gets to the hotel at 10am, but it's broad daylight outside, so she struggles to sleep, and finally does so at 11am. She needs to get up at 4pm to get to the airport on time for her next flight. She only gets 5 hours of light sleep, not accounting for the few 'wakes' she gets because her circadian rhythm is completely screwed up.

These people do this everyday. The sleep deprivation and debt add up, leading to fatigue and possible accidental decisions in the air.

Would you feel comfortable flying in an aircraft that holds 250+ people and is flown by sleepy pilots?

The FAA requires pilots to have a minimum of 8-hours time off between flights, timed when the pilot leaves the gate till the time he/she enters the gate for the next flight. You bet the airlines are taking full advantage of this rule!


Close. A pilot may not be on duty more than 16 hrs and must have at least 8 hrs of uninterrupted rest.

http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2000/TRAVEL/NEWS/12/01/faa.airlines.fatigue.reut/index.html

Not I. 8 hours doesn't bother me. I spend less than an hour a day commuting because I chose to live in a small city where I could live near work.

Maybe folks in gigantic cities should strike to get their employers to move out to less prestigious but more reasonable locations? Makes more sense than trying to spend more time traveling and less time producing.