# Police driver fatigue: “Our dirty little secret”



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

It happened almost a decade ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a new sergeant working midnights and I had been up for close to 24 hours. I was approaching my house and could actually see my driveway when it happened. I fell asleep behind the wheel and ended up in a ditch. Luckily no other cars were involved, and I was not hurt. The incident woke me up to the real dangers of fatigue, and while not everyone falls asleep at the wheel, driving a police vehicle while fatigued can create tremendous problems.

How could it happen? How could I see my driveway, knowing I was about to arrive home and fall asleep? The research says that I was more than tired. As the human body fights fatigue, it can fall asleep from a fraction of a second to 10 seconds. This phenomenon known as microsleep is impossible to predict. You could be going 65 mph on a highway in traffic or you could be like me, 100 yards from your house.

In fact, research tells us that officers on six or seven hours of sleep create twice the likelihood of a collision happening, and those on five hours of sleep create five times the likelihood. Officers who have been awake for 18 hours are in a state equivalent to a .05 blood alcohol content, and on three hours of sleep, they are equal to being impaired by alcohol.

Commuting, family obligations, shift work, overtime and extra jobs are all significant contributors to police fatigue. Each one places an officer in grave danger while behind the wheel. An Alertness Solutions survey found that 85 percent of officers reported that they inadvertently fell asleep while on duty. While the work hours for many professionals - such as truck drivers and pilots - are regulated, law enforcement finds itself in the precarious position of few industry standards as well as scattered rules and regulations around the country.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/writers/columnists/TravisYates/articles/1678097/


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## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

Yet my insurance says I was at fault in my accident...Honestly, no accidents in 9 years...I get on the job and within 2 years I have 3 accidents (ok, one was a deer jumping out in front of me)...My driving hasn't changed, so the job is the only thing I can think of...Now if we could only get insurance to figure it out.


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## 78thrifleman (Dec 18, 2005)

So pay us a justafiable amount of money for what we do and we won't have to work ridiculous hours just to keep our heads above water. F*cking athletes make millions for playing a goddamn game, actors make millions for "pretending" and the people that actually make some semblance of a difference are hated, despised, and constantly under attack by politicians and the public trying to take away "unnecessary details." I'm sick of this shit. Just because you or your brother got a ticket 15 years ago, don't hold it against the people who are paid to protect you and write those tickets (which, incidentally, could have slowed down a driver who might have potentially caused a fatal involving your mother, father, son, grandchild, etc.) Police are hated and there's no justafiable reason for it. read "Stoning the Keepers of the Gate." It's a book that chronicles the phenomenon that we're here to protect, yet people constantly berate us. I would love to see one day where the police were just "off'. DAY OFF - GO HOME. See what these bitching civilians do then. I know there are plenty of people out there that are pro cop, but most of them are friends or family. The real independent supporters are few and far between. TO THOSE OF YOU WHO AREN'T COPS AND READ THESE FORUMS: Give us a break. We do our jobs to the best of our ability and do what we are sworn to. I was at my sister's 40th birthday party 2 weeks ago and an in-law came up to me and said, "You know it only takes forty to cents to get rid of a Trooper?" I asked what he meant, and he said that was the cost of a bullet. This guy isn't a bad guy, but people have a misconception that this job is an accurate reflection of COPS. It isn't, people. We see, hear, feel, and touch things that you would never even want to think about. An eyeball hagning out of a socket during a drag racing incident? A woman who walked into traffic holding two children? A guy having a heart attack and driving into a swamp,which we have to walk into and try to ressucitate? Seeing one of our own killed? It's everyday stiff that you people never see, never hear of, and are happy in your state of denial or unknowingness (which I absolutely support - if you don't need to see it, you never should.) Firefighters are heroes because they make rescues. We make rescuses, but those rescuses are proactive. AND, NO, I DO NOT WANT TO BE CALLED A HERO. I do what I do because I chose to and I love it. Maybe the firefighters should take a lesson from us. They're protesting random drug testing! Give me a break... are you that hooked? In short (which I know isn't short) we do a lot that you don't know about. Next time you get a citation, here's a suggestion: "I'm sorry officer, I DO intend to appeal, but thank you for all you do that we don't realize." I apologize for the rant, but enough is enough... and further, I was listening to "Rock Superstar" by Cypress Hill which further infuriates me. Hey.. Maybe I'll even make it on a "Sticky"


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## PapaBear (Feb 23, 2008)

There were many times in my career when work shift hours far exceeded the amount of sleep I was getting and micro episodes creeped in. 

I clearly recall a time in the early 70s when I was falling asleep on my duty motorcycle while enroute home (forty miles from my office). I pulled off of the freeway, called my wife and told her I had to rest before going further. I then pulled into a gas station, parked behind the work bay and asked the attendant to awaken me in one hour. That was 2300 hours. He forgot, and I awoke at 0530. I had fifteen miles to get home from there, shave, shower, dress and get back to Los Angeles for court at 0830. I was a little late and took another nap in the officer's waiting room at court. Then, back to work at 1345 hours. That incident scared the cr** out of me. Never happened again - at least, not while I was assigned to motors.


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## bbelichick (Aug 25, 2002)

78thrifleman said:


> I was at my sister's 40th birthday party 2 weeks ago and an in-law came up to me and said, "You know it only takes forty to cents to get rid of a Trooper?" I asked what he meant, and he said that was the cost of a bullet. This guy isn't a bad guy,




Sounds like a terminal a**hole to me.


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## PaulKersey (Nov 28, 2007)

78thrifleman said:


> . I was at my sister's 40th birthday party 2 weeks ago and an in-law came up to me and said, "You know it only takes forty to cents to get rid of a Trooper?" I asked what he meant, and he said that was the cost of a bullet. "


Him and I would have a problem.

_


PapaBear said:



I then pulled into a gas station, parked behind the work bay and asked the attendant to awaken me in one hour. That was 2300 hours. He forgot, and I awoke at 0530.quote]

Click to expand...

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PapaBear said:


> The good old days. If you did that today, you'd be watching yourself sleep on the Fox News.


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## ADAMS CTR (May 5, 2008)

78thrifleman said:


> . Maybe the firefighters should take a lesson from us. They're protesting random drug testing! Give me a break... are you that hooked? ]
> 
> Ok so your Dept decides they want you to work 12 hours instead of 8 hours. Oh and by the way you will not be getting paid for those extra hours. What would you do? Probably go to your Union and negoiate something with the dept. That is all the Firefighters are trying to do. They are not against the testing!
> I would not want something shoved my throat like the City is trying to do to them. Every benefit that we have has been negoiated by the union at sometime or another. Why give these guys such a hard time when we would do and have done the same thing


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## Tango (Nov 28, 2004)

*[ I was at my sister's 40th birthday party 2 weeks ago and an in-law came up to me and said, "You know it only takes forty to cents to get rid of a Trooper?" I asked what he meant, and he said that was the cost of a bullet.*

What a douche bag. Rifleman, any luck with the ring?


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## bbelichick (Aug 25, 2002)

78thrifleman said:


> Maybe the firefighters should take a lesson from us. They're protesting random drug testing! Give me a break... are you that hooked?


Sorry, brother...but your pay would be about 20% less if SPAM had that attitude.

If it affects your working conditions, you have to get compensated. No union agrees to contractual changes without compensation. Anyone who advocates that either doesn't know how unions work or is naive.


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## 78thrifleman (Dec 18, 2005)

bbelichick said:


> Sorry, brother...but your pay would be about 20% less if SPAM had that attitude.
> 
> If it affects your working conditions, you have to get compensated. No union agrees to contractual changes without compensation. Anyone who advocates that either doesn't know how unions work or is naive.


I didn't know that.


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## Irish Wampanoag (Apr 6, 2003)

kttref said:


> Yet my insurance says I was at fault in my accident...Honestly, no accidents in 9 years...I get on the job and within 2 years I have 3 accidents (ok, one was a deer jumping out in front of me)...My driving hasn't changed, so the job is the only thing I can think of...Now if we could only get insurance to figure it out.


OK lets get down to earth!!! Cops dont drive the same way they did prior to getting on the job lets all get real folks


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## kttref (Oct 5, 2004)

Agreed!


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## PearlOnyx (Jun 28, 2002)

We complain about fatigue, yet some of us argue against caps on detail hours. Our cap is at 32 hours a week. Personally, I don't want to work my shift next to the guy that is working an extra 32 hours a week. Walking zombies...


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## PaulKersey (Nov 28, 2007)

PearlOnyx said:


> I don't want to work my shift next to the guy that is working an extra 32 hours a week. Walking zombies...


Welcome to my world.


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