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Sleep experts equate operating while drowsy to driving drunk

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, September 29, 2005 - On his last day of work before he was to marry his fiancée, Major Robert Raneri was struck and killed by an 19-year-old man who had fallen asleep at the wheel after admittedly being awake playing computer games for the previous 24 hours.

The driver was convicted of negligent motor vehicle homicide, a misdemeanor offense that warranted 120 hours of community service and 10-year license suspension.

For Raneri’s fiancée, Amy Huhler, the sentence was nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Two weeks after she buried her would-be husband, Huhler found out she was pregnant.

A teary-eyed Huhler asked state lawmakers Thursday to support legislation (S 2124) that would make driving while drowsy a criminal offense similar to drunk driving. If convicted, a driver could face a fine of up to $5,000 and could be sentenced to up to two and a half years in prison.

“Because of a drowsy driver, our wedding plans changed to funeral plans,” she told members of the Transportation Committee. “What killed Rob was not an accident. It was a crash caused by a driver who admittedly was awake for over 24 hours and made a conscious choice to get behind the wheel of a vehicle—a vehicle that quickly turned into a weapon resulting in the death of an innocent person.”

In addition to making drowsy driving a crime, the bill, known as “Rob’s Law,” filed by Sen. Richard Moore (D-Uxbridge) would add sleep education to the state driving exam and school bus driver test. The bill would also include drowsy driving as a factor in determining habitual traffic offenders, and police would also be allowed to take drivers into custody until they were rested.

“People don’t know this is wrong,” said Moore, who admits to having driven sleepily himself. “They don’t equate it to drunk driving.”

According to the National Sleep Foundation, 18 hours without sleep has the same physiological effect on the body as a .05 percent blood alcohol concentration. A full 24 hours without sleep is equivalent to a BAC of .01 percent.

Charles Czeisler, chief of the Division of Sleep Medicine at the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said accidents caused by sleepy driving are the most identifiable and preventable crashes behind those caused by drunk drivers.

An estimated 1.3 million Americans, including 30,000 Massachusetts residents, were involved in sleep-related crashes in the last five years, he said, citing data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“Unlike heart attacks, sleep attacks don’t occur without warning,” Czeisler said. “The vast majority of drivers knew they were drowsy. And it’s a pattern that’s often repeated.”

Late-night workers told the committee they support the bill, but worry that hospital employees and others who are up during long shifts will be negatively affected.

“We are here today to alert the committee to the very difficult position that this proposed legislation puts the state’s 3,000 resident physicians," said Paru Patrawalla, a 3rd year medical resident at Boston Medical Center. “Working in the Commonwealth’s teaching hospitals, we are routinely scheduled and required to work 24-30 consecutive hour shifts, sometimes as often as three times a week.”

Patrawalla suggested that lawmakers consider changing the number of hours residents can work if the driving legislation is approved.

If the Legislature does approve the bill, Massachusetts would be one of only two states with a law against drowsy driving on the books. New Jersey adopted its own version, called Maggie’s Law, in 2003.

Committee Co-Chairman Rep. Joseph Wagner (D-Chicopee), who has also driven home sleepily on occasion, said the bill merits serious consideration by lawmakers.

“This issue is a real issue,” he said. “The right to operate a motor vehicle is a privilege granted by law. This is about public safety and we have an obligation to look at these things.”

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