Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Driver Fatigue Accidents Can Be Deadly (Part A)
Driver fatigue accidents used to be considered unavoidable outcomes of a certain percentage of drowsy driving incidents. This accepting attitude is changing as the number of car and truck crashes, personal injuries and wrongful deaths add up. States are legislating new ways to protect good drivers who are threatened by those who drive while drowsy and cause serious or fatal accidents.
Driver fatigue accidents result in more than 1,500 fatalities in the U.S. each year, proving to be almost as deadly as those involving alcohol. Sometimes the two are combined, creating more causes for people to fall asleep at the wheel.
The rights of the injured or the family of a driver fatigue victim are represented in civil court by a personal injury or wrongful death lawyer. No longer can those who harm others due to their own reckless driving habits escape justice.
How State Laws on Driver Fatigue Accidents Are Changing
Criminal and civil lawsuits are the two venues open to prosecution for a crime involving driver fatigue. Most states do not consider operators who cause driver fatigue accidents criminally liable, but all states allow plaintiffs to file civil claims seeking compensation from those responsible.
There are exceptions to the criminal option, however, most notably in the state of New Jersey.
The courts there have defined fatigue impairment as recklessness under the law, making individuals convicted of causing driver fatigue fatalities liable for vehicular homicide. This violation carries penalties of fines and imprisonment, and may be prosecuted in tandem with civil claims. Plaintiffs may request monetary damages for negligence which their attorneys can prove.
The New Jersey amendment known as “Maggie’s Law” came about when Maggie McDonnell, a young driver, was killed in an egregious circumstance related to fatigue, negligence and illegal drug use.
Her killer received a small fine and no jail time, even though he admitted to driving following a 30-hour bout of wakefulness on crack cocaine. In the wake of outrage from her family and the public, the new law establishing criminal penalties quantifies reckless fatigue as a period of 24 hours without sleep.
Continue to Driver Fatigue Accidents Can Be Deadly (Part B) >>
