Drowsy Truck Driving

After Tracy Morgan’s car accident landed him severely injured in the hospital Friday, a report came out stating the Wal-Mart truck driver, that hit his car, hadn’t slept in twenty-four hours.

Former truck driver, Britton Rowe, said his safety and sanity were more of a concern than the money he was making as a truck driver.

“It really just took a toll on me mentally and physically,” said Rowe.

The truck driving regulations state a driver can not drive more than eleven hours a day without taking a ten hour break.

Rowe said, “Really the way I kind of understood it was you sleep when you can. You might have three hours here, four hours there. And then sleep when you could. And for me I just couldn’t do it.”

Rowe said other drivers need to pay attention to semi-trucks as well.

The weight and force of a truck can do severe damage to the smaller vehicles on the road.

Rowe said truck drivers always worry about hitting another vehicle.

“That was pretty much always on my mind. That you’re one step away or one sneeze away from veering over onto a car that’s next to you,” said Rowe.

Chuck Ghoring, with the Missouri Department of Transportation said the only way to cure sleep deprivation is to sleep.

“Go ahead and stop, and take a quick nap. A power nap from 15 minutes to 30 minutes is enough to really refresh a person and get them going to where they can be alert and driving again,” said Ghoring.

The National Sleep Foundations released a report that stated a few different ways for drivers to notice if they are becoming sleepy.

Constantly blinking their eyes, irritability, restlessness, daydreaming and brain fog are just a few.