Several studies have been made of the risk that sleep apnea in truck drivers poses for causing truck crashes. The various studies present differing results.
The major government study on the issue did not draw conclusive answers. That study’s only strong conclusion said that truckers with severe sleep apnea experienced greater risks of severe truck crashes (but not of mild to moderate truck crashes). But the fine print on this study takes pains to point out the weaknesses in certain areas of the study’s data collection processes and in the sample populations studied.
For instance, the majority of the truckers involved in the study were short haul truckers driving in urban areas. Short haul truckers drive for shorter periods of time. Urban areas have more stimulating driving conditions. They require more alertness and present fewer dangers of causing driver fatigue.
Long haul truckers on the other hand drive hours on end through monotonous highway conditions. They frequently fall prey to road trance. They’re the drivers at highest risk for succumbing to the dangers of sleep apnea. But the long haul truckers weren’t well represented in the government study’s truck driver sample.
Other studies show an overwhelming risk of truck crashes from drivers with sleep apnea. One study out of Rhode Island and Massachusetts showed a 7 times greater risk of truck accidents in drivers with sleep apnea than in those without. As Pearland, TX truck crash attorneys, we believe the risk of injuries and fatalities from sleep apnea-related truck crashes becomes clear once you read the fine print on the government study. Sleep apnea in long haul truckers presents high risks of truck crashes to these truckers and to the other travelers around them on the roads.