You aren't any better than drink drivers if you drive tired

I'll have to admit, there are times when I've been out with friends till late and ended up driving home closer to sunrise than sunset… I remember battling the fatigue on those occasions, and I'm sure my driving ability was affected.

But, it wasn't until my experience as a passenger in a car driven by a severely sleep-deprived private-hire vehicle driver that made me realise just how dangerous it is. Not only did he miss an exit and made a 30 minute detour, but throughout the drive, he was nodding off from time to time with the car swerving in and out of the lane erratically.

When I finally reached my destination for the BYD Seal's launch, I wasn't even worried about the fact that I am now late. Instead, I urged the driver to take a break and call it a day — it simply isn't safe for him to continue driving. I've decided to look into just how dangerous driving while tired is, and here's what I found.

Drowsy or tired driving has similar effects to drink driving

Drink driving is universally frowned upon, and a severe offence (you will lose your driving licence, and could also face jail time), hence the dangers that it is associated with are well communicated to all of us.

But what most don't know is that driving when you are extremely tired isn't too different from the former. Sleep deprivation can result in vision impairment and coordination, hindering one's ability to drive safely.

Not unlike alcohol, sleep deprivation can also cause cognitive impairment, preventing one from being in full control of the vehicle. And you don't need an expert to understand the dangers that this will result in.

Studies have also shown that a motorist who goes without sleep for 17 to 19 hours is akin to someone who has a blood alcohol level of 0.05 per cent, and a driver who hasn't slept for 28 hours is akin to a blood alcohol level of 0.10 per cent — the legal limit in Singapore is 0.08 per cent. As you can see, drowsy driving isn't all that different from drink driving.

Driving while sleep-deprived can have deadly consequences

It doesn't take more than a quick search online to find multiple cases of severe accidents that have been caused by a drowsy driver behind the wheel. In recent times, a sleepy taxi driver who collided into a broken-down car and caused the death of the driver who was standing in front was sentenced to 10 months jail and banned from driving for eight years.

Situations can easily escalate when the vehicle being driven by the drowsy driver is a passenger hauler, such as busses and lorries.

In 2018, a Tower Transit bus driver who only slept for five hours the night before fell asleep at the wheel and collided into a stationary lorry, resulting in serious injury to the passengers on the lorry. He was sentenced to two weeks jail and banned from driving for two years after his release.

Meanwhile, back in 2017, a lady making her way to volunteer work was killed by the actions of a drowsy driver.

The driver, who did not sleep for 20 hours, was driving along Jurong West Avenue 1 when he swerved abruptly, mounted the kerb, hit the lady who was standing on the grass patch and sent her flying onto the road, killing her. The driver admitted that he was feeling sleepy and tired prior to the accident, and he was jailed for three months and banned from driving for five years.

All these incidents prove the dangers of drowsy driving and just how deadly it could be. After all, you are handling powerful and heavy machinery on the road, and doing so while cognitively impaired will prove to be a serious hazard.

So, are there any legal repercussions?

The Road Traffic Act regulates road traffic and the use of vehicles, and it outlines the various driving offences and their penalties. These road traffic offences are generally built upon the concepts of careless, dangerous and reckless driving.

Driving while tired, however, doesn't fit the description completely. Instead, cases of drowsy drivers who injure or cause deaths are sometimes charged under the negligent act within the penal code (this isn't specific to traffic offences).

According to an article from 2014, casino surveillance officer Hue An Li, who crashed into a lorry and resulted in the death of a foreign worker, was charged with causing death by a negligent act. Her punishment included a four-week jail term — this set a precedent for courts to impose a jail term rather than fines that were typically imposed on drowsy driving cases prior to this case.

As can be seen from later cases, such as the Tower Transit bus driver mentioned earlier who was jailed for causing grievous hurt by negligent act, causing injuries or death due to drowsy driving will land you in jail, on top of fines and a driving ban.

While the propensity for serious accidents to occur due to sleep-deprived driving should already be enough to put you off from driving in such a state, the threat of jail time would probably convince you to make the correct decision.

Work is important, but health and safety should be prioritised

It is understandable that the nature of the job for delivery drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers and private-hire drivers require them to spend lots of time on the road. However, one should always be aware of physical limitations, and avoid overworking themselves.

Getting into a severe accident will not only impede your ability to continue working, but it can also incur costly penalties. You wouldn't want to be burdened with the knowledge that your decision to drive while sleep-deprived has caused the death or severe injury of an innocent pedestrian.

There was a recent incident that made the news, where a Private-Hire Vehicle (PHV) driver posted a challenge on social media to find and reward one fellow PHV driver who can earn the most within 24 hours, as a form of motivation to the community. While it was a thoughtful gesture, there was substantial backlash regarding the safety aspects of such a challenge.

Indeed, spending long hours on the road should not be encouraged due to the dangers involved. In fact, I'll even take it a step further and urge companies and ride-hailing platforms to set a hard limit for the maximum amount of time that a driver can be driving over a 24-hour period.

While companies such as Grab currently has warnings in place to remind drivers to take a break if they have been driving for long hours, they aren't doing enough to restrict drivers from driving while tired.

What they could do is to lock the system and stop these drivers from picking up fares after a stipulated amount of time driving. The government could even enact regulations to restrict the maximum amount of time that someone who drives for a living could spend on the road, so as to discourage companies from overworking their drivers.

However, at the end of the day, the ultimate decision is to be determined by each individual — if a driver wants to drive for long hours, they will still find a way to do so. But now that you understand the stakes and dangers of driving while drowsy and sleepy, would you still do it knowingly? I know I wouldn't take the risk.

ALSO READ: Many of us fight sleep. Here's why we should stop

This article was first published in sgCarMart.