Sleepless in New Jersey -- it could make you a criminal

By: Staff
Date: 2003-09-07

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New Jersey's new sleep and driving law means that the 24 million or so Americans who work in extended hours jobs had better beware of sleep deficit. "Maggie's Law," as it's called, was passed in June, 2003, and makes it illegal to knowingly drive a vehicle while impaired by lack of sleep. Other states will now likely consider such legislation.

By laying out a specific rule about driving and fatigue the New Jersey law attempts to make it easier to lay criminal charges against a driver who kills or injures someone due to falling asleep at the wheel. However, the law could have important liability implications for companies that are deemed to have pressured drivers into pushing the limits of fatigue in order to meet the demands of delivery schedules.

Maggie's Law originated in 1997, from a traffic crash in which 20-year-old Maggie McDonald was killed when a driver crossed three lanes of traffic and hit her car head on. The driver admitted he had been awake for 30 hours before the accident, and had also been using drugs. In the ensuing trial, the Jury deadlocked 9 to 3 on a conviction. At a second trial, the defense argued there was no law in New Jersey against falling asleep at the wheel. The judge did not allow the jury to consider the driver's sleep deprivation and he received a suspended jail sentence and a $200 fine.

"This is the first law of its kind in the U.S.," says the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), and it commends the state for its initiative. "Maggie's Law should pave the way for other states to take a serious look at sleep deprived drivers by passing similar legislation and implementing aggressive educational programs," states the NSF.

Whether Maggie's law succeeds in reducing fatigue-related crashes in New Jersey remains to be seen. It certainly opens the way for an expensive process of passing similar laws in other states. However, as the NSF points out, a survey it conducted in 1998 showed that in all states except Alabama, people can be charged under existing laws for causing a crash or fatality after falling asleep at the wheel.

Overlawyered.com referred to the legislation as the "Let's criminalize everything dept."

"It is nicknamed "Maggie's Law" after the victim of one such collision, thus confirming the truism that any enactment tagged with the given name of some recent victim ("Megan's Law", etc.) will combine sentimentality of intent with harshness of result," states the Overlawyered.com web site.

Necessary or not, Maggie's Law could have broad implications for the trucking industry. "Under the new law" states insurancejournal.com, "a sleep deprived driver who causes an accident, after being awake for more than 24 hours, can be convicted of vehicular homicide. The law raises the specter of corporate liability in cases of drowsy employees who work long hours, high amounts of overtime, double-shifts, or even 24-hour on-call periods at their employer's request."

There has already been a steady increase in driver accident fatigue legislation, states InsuranceJournal.com. "For extended hours employers in New Jersey and surrounding states, Maggie's Law increases the risk of corporate liability should an employee cause a fatal drowsy driving accident," it adds.

The US Department of Transportation identifies fatigue as the number one safety problem in transportation operations, costing over $12 billion a year. Sleepy drivers are as much a danger as alcohol impaired drivers, says the U.S. National Highway traffic Safety Administration. Two recent Australian studies demonstrate that being awake for 18 hours produces impairment equal to a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.05% and 0.1% after 24 hours; 0.08% is considered legally drunk.

According to National Sleep Foundation polls, more than half of America's drivers (over 100 million people) admit to driving while drowsy, and nearly two out of five say they actually fell asleep at the wheel.

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