The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has laid out rules about how much time truckers have to take off and how many hours they can remain behind the wheel every day. These rules were created mostly in an effort to keep exhausted and overworked drivers off of the road. Truckers need to get their sleep, even when they’re on the go, in order to be safe drivers.
Unfortunately, even when truckers stop driving and spend the night in a sleeper cab, that does not always mean they’re getting a solid eight hours of good sleep. They still have many issues that make it harder to feel fully rested when pulling back into traffic. Some of these issues include:
- Sleeping in new locations every night, with new surroundings.
- Getting woken up by other sounds in the parking lot or truck stop.
- Finding it hard to fall asleep when it’s not perfectly dark in the truck.
- Dealing with health issues, like back pain, that make sleeping in a cab far less comfortable than a real bed.
- Getting woken up by movement and vibration, which can happen often at truck stops with many semis in the same lot.
- Having to sleep through bad odors and smells wafting in from outside of the truck.
- Not feeling fully comfortable after consuming unhealthy food and drink, which is easier to find on the road than a wholesome, home-cooked meal.
These issues may mean that even drivers who take the proper amount of time off still feel tired when they get back on the road. If they cause accidents, those who suffer injuries caused by commercial trucks need to know all of their legal rights.
Source: Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips, “How to Sleep Better as a Professional Truck Driver,” accessed March 30, 2018
