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Driving while fatigued is dangerous, as drowsiness causes many of the same effects as being impaired by alcohol.  Impaired judgment, delayed response time, and the risk of dozing off all contribute to making drowsy driving dangerous. Unfortunately, nightshift workers face many of these risks on their commute home every morning. 

Nightshift workers are unable to avoid driving after being awake all night, and the body never fully adapts to the unusual sleep schedule of dozing during the day. Research from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) reported on by Sleep Review Magazine demonstrates the consequences of this when it comes to road safety. 

Nightshift workers may inadvertently put themselves and others at risk because of fatigued driving. While their work schedules are beyond their control, if they are found to have been negligent by staying behind the wheel when they are tired, they can be held accountable for the losses a crash may cause.  Randall Spivey, a Ft. Myers personal injury lawyer can help victims of drowsy driving crashes to pursue a case for monetary damages after an accident happens. 

Research Shows Higher Motor Vehicle Accident Risks for Night Workers

The researchers from BWH evaluated the driving performance of nightshift workers who had completed their full shifts and drove home. Their driving abilities after working overnight were compared with their driving performance after sleeping for 7.6 hours the night before the test. 

The drivers completed two-hour driving sessions on close driving tracks to determine how performance compared after working versus after a full night's rest with no shift work.  The sessions took place at roughly the same time of the day, with the only difference being whether the driver had worked a shift the night before.

A variety of different metrics were used to assess driver fatigue, including the use of an EEG to measure brief micro-sleep episodes, as well as the recording of partial eyelid closures with slow movements.  Driving skills were measured based on the number of near-crash incidents, as well as whether the motorists failed to maintain vehicle control and how frequently the motorists veered out of their lane. 

The troubling results of this research found that 37.5 percent of the drivers who had just worked overnight had a near-crash event. This same group of drivers, when well-rested, had zero near-crash events. 

When driving after their shift, sleep-related impairment was evident within the first 15 minutes of the driving test being conducted, and more than a third of the drivers who had worked the night before had to do an emergency braking maneuver at least once in the testing. Almost half the drivers were terminated out of the study early when they'd done a shift the day before because they simply couldn't keep control of their cars.

The effects of driving after being up all night were very pronounced, even in test subjects who had been working the nightshift for a long time.  Nightshift workers need to be aware of these dangers and make sure they stop driving and get sufficient rest if they are too fatigued to be safe.

Drivers who continue driving when they are tired could be considered negligent and held responsible for car crash losses.  Drowsy driving crashes can be complicated to prove, so a personal injury lawyer should be consulted to help victims when accidents happen. If you have questions or concerns about your case, call the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. as soon as possible.