Falling asleep while driving.

Brought this up because of a thread on WOV

Perhaps you've nodded off at least once while driving. Maybe more. I'd be surprised if anyone who has driven for years hasn't done it at least once, even if only sitting at a red light. Assuming you're reading this from Earth, you're still alive.

But let's say the worse happens and you kill and maim several people. 3 killed, 2 injured.

What's the appropriate consequences for you if you do this. Let's say it really is from falling asleep, nothing where you were doing drugs or alcohol.

Should you do jail time, and if so, how much?

Try to come up with an answer before opening the spoiler

The spoiler applies to ALL crimes.

Many of those ARRIVE ALIVE campaings were due to New Yorkers trying to drive straight thru to Florida for a vacation and then saying they were asleep when the accident happened.


Drinking and driving is one thing, intentionally putting of sleep is another,,, but falling asleep is often medical and often without warning making it no more culpable than falling suddenly dizzy.

I remember as a young teen wondering how in the world someone could fall asleep driving. I remember as a slightly less young teen wondering how to get my mom's car unwrapped from the telephone pole I had put it around after falling asleep while driving.

I've even dosed off on my bike.

In the case of the car, I paid, and paid well. Tickets for failure to keep right, unsafe operation of a motor vehicle, leaving the scene of a property damaging accident (I guess I should've just stayed there and bled out?), as well as having to pay for the damaged property (a $700 "custom made relic" of a mailbox. Really?!)

I dunno the legality of it all. Certainly, I in that instance was responsible for not conducting myself in a responsible manner. It was all my fault staying up until 5a so I could be with my g/f, and all my fault getting behind the wheel in such a condition. But I wonder for other random or semi random events. Narcolepsy? Diabetic shock? Petit mal seizure?

That's why I think the speed limit should be 130mph. No one falls asleep at the limit =p

Can't say I ever fell asleep at the wheel, but I have driven many times when I should have pulled over. What woke me up (no pun intended) was I once drove back to Rochester from a meeting in IIRC Princeton, NJ. On interstate near Syracuse there is a traffic light during the state fair. Flashing yellow most of the time and I went by it not noting it much. A week later on trip to Binghamton I saw it again but wide awake. It dawned on me if I missed a traffic light on the interstate how much else did I miss?

Not going to say I never pushed the envelope again but I am way more careful, will stop for coffee or whatever more often.

Quote: Fleastiff

Many of those ARRIVE ALIVE campaings were due to New Yorkers trying to drive straight thru to Florida for a vacation and then saying they were asleep when the accident happened.


Drinking and driving is one thing, intentionally putting of sleep is another,,, but falling asleep is often medical and often without warning making it no more culpable than falling suddenly dizzy.

Speaking of...

http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/12/04/will-sleepy-new-york-train-engineer-william-rockefeller-face-criminal-charges

Remember the train derailment.

The Great Heck train crash occurred when the driver on the adjoining road fell asleep, drove his Landrover onto the train tracks, and caused a derailment that killed 10 people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heck_rail_crash

He served 2.5 years of a 5 year sentence.

The crash killed a friend of mine. (edited : memory was wrong in checking the names, was not the incident that killed the brother of a friend of mine).

I do think the driver was as guilty as if he had otherwise cause himself to be impaired. I do think he served a reasonable amount of time, and was without malice. I do think his (of his legal teams) excuses before and afterwards have some, but not much, merit.