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CMV drivers can be impaired due to sleep deficit
Truck drivers who routinely get too little sleep or suffer from sleep apnea show signs of fatigue and impaired performance that can make them a hazard on the road, according to a major new study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Study results were published recently in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The study is among the largest and most comprehensive studies of truck drivers and fatigue ever done. Penn researchers examined 406 truck drivers and found that those who routinely slept less than five hours a night were likely to fare poorly on tests designed to measure sleepiness, attention and reaction time, and steering ability. Drivers with severe sleep apnea, a medical condition that causes a poor quality of sleep, also were sleepy and had performance impairment.
Allan Pack, MB, ChB, PhD, who headed the study, said the tired truck drivers had impaired performance similar to that of drivers who are legally drunk. “We identified some very impaired people,” said Pack, a sleep expert who directs Penn’s Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology. Nearly 5% of the truckers had severe sleep apnea (a condition in which someone stops breathing often during sleep), and about 13% of the drivers got fewer than five hours of sleep a night on a regular basis. “There are daytime neurobehavioral performance impairments that are found commonly in commercial drivers, and these are more likely among those who get an average of five or less hours of sleep a night and those who suffer from severe obstructive sleep apnea,” the researchers concluded.
According to the journal article, about 5600 people are killed each year in the US in crashes involving CMVs. Many of the crashes happen when the driver falls asleep at the wheel. Penn researchers are now suggesting specific steps for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to take to improve safety for everyone on our roads:
- Develop strategies to identify impaired drivers through objective testing.
- Implement programs to identify and test drivers with severe sleep apnea and track whether they stick to their treatment.
- Introduce programs to assess and promote longer durations of sleep among commercial drivers.
The results of this study were published in an August issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The article is titled, “Impaired Performance in Commercial Drivers: Role of Sleep Apnea and Short Sleep Duration.” Other Penn researchers who worked on the study were: Greg Maislin; Bethany Staley; Frances Pack and David Dinges. William Rogers, formerly of the Trucking Research Institute, American Trucking Associations (ATA) as well as Charles F. P. George of the University of Western Ontario also were involved.
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