NCDMV CDL Handbook

Commercial Driver’s License Manual – 2005 CDL Testing System

Avoid using dark or tinted corrective lenses at night, even if you think they help with glare. Tinted lenses cut down the light that you need to see clearly under night driving conditions. Glare. Drivers can be blinded for a short time by bright light. . It can take several seconds to recover from glare. Even two seconds of glare blindness can be dangerous. A vehicle going 55 mph will travel more than half the distance of a football field during that time. Fatigue and Lack of Alertness. Fatigue is physical or mental tiredness that can be caused by physical or mental strain, repetitive tasks, illness or lack of sleep. Just like alcohol and drugs, it impairs your vision and judgment. Fatigue causes errors related to speed and distance, increases your risk of being in a crash, causes you to not see and react to hazards as quickly; and affects your ability to make critical decisions. When you are fatigued, you could fall asleep behind the wheel and crash, injuring or killing yourself or others. Fatigued or drowsy driving is one of the leading causes of traffic collisions. NHTSA estimates that 100,000 police-reported crashes a year are the result of drowsy driving. According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60% of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and more than one third (36 percent or 103 million people) admit to having actually fallen asleep at the wheel. Drivers may experience short bursts of sleep lasting only a few seconds or fall asleep for longer periods of time. Either way, the chance of a collision increases dramatically. The risk of having a crash due to drowsy driving is not uniformly distributed across the population. Crashes tend to occur at times when sleepiness is most pronounced, for example, during the night and in the mid-afternoon. Most people are less alert at night, especially after midnight. This is particularly true if you have been driving for a long time. Thus individuals who drive at night are much more likely to have fall-asleep crashes. Research has identified young males, shift workers, commercial drivers, especially long-haul drivers and people with untreated sleep disorders or with short term or chronic sleep deprivation as being at increased risk for having a fall-asleep crash. At least 15% of all heavy truck crashes involve fatigue. A congressionally mandated study of 80 long-haul truck drivers in the United States and Canada found that drivers averaged less than 5 hours of sleep per day. (Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, At-Risk Groups

1996) It is no surprise then that the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported that drowsy driving was probably the cause of more than half of crashes leading to a truck driver’s death. (NTSB, 1990) For each truck driver fatality, another three to four people are killed. (NHTSA, 1994) According to the National Sleep Foundation’s Sleep in America poll, 60% of Americans have driven while feeling sleepy and 36% admit to actually having fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. However, many people cannot tell if or when they are about to fall asleep. Here are some signs that should tell you to stop and rest: Difficulty focusing, frequent blinking or heavy eyelids Yawning repeatedly or rubbing eyes Day-dreaming; or wandering/disconnected thoughts Trouble remembering the last few miles driven; missing exits or traffic signs Trouble keeping head up Drifting from your lane, following too closely or Warning Signs of Fatigue

hitting a shoulder rumble strip Feeling restless and irritable

When you are tired trying to “push on” is far more dangerous than most drivers think. It is a major cause of fatal accidents. If you notice any signs of fatigue, stop driving and go to sleep for the night or take a 15 – 20 minute nap.

Are You At Risk?

Before you drive, consider whether you are:

Sleep-deprived or fatigued (6 hours of sleep or less triples your risk) Suffering from sleep loss (insomnia), poor quality sleep, or a sleep debt

Driving long distances without proper rest breaks

Driving through the night, mid-afternoon or when you would normally be asleep. Many heavy motor vehicle accidents occur between midnight and 6 a.m. Taking sedating medications (antidepressants, cold tablets, antihistamines) Working more than 60 hours a week (increases your risk by 40%) Working more than one job, and your main job involves shift work

Driving alone or on a long, rural, dark or boring road

Flying, changing time zone

Section 2 – Driving Safely

Page 2-25

Version: July 2017