2002 Pennsylvania Sleep Apnea Awareness Day Meeting

Too Tired to Do What?

Critical Look at Daytime Sleepiness,
Fatigued Drivers, and The Law

Two Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation (PennDOT) experts will be the guests at the next Awake In Philly meeting, which is slated for the same day as the 2002 Pennsylvania Sleep Apnea Awareness Day, which was made official by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. In fact, Pennsylvania State Representative Alan Butkovitz (D-174) introduced and saw successful adoption of H.R. 489, which declares Wednesday, April 10, 2002 as Pennsylvania Sleep Apnea Awareness Day 2002. Rep. Butkovitz also introduced H.R. 421, which declares Sunday, April 7 through Sunday, April 14, 2002, as Pennsylvania Sleep Awareness Week 2002. 

As members of the New Jersey Legislature gets ready to begin tackling the issue of drowsy drivers, and what criminal penalties should be added to the state’s criminal codes, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Deanny Wright; Bob Johns, Executive Director of the Bucks County Highway Safety Program; and Larry Bucci, a safety engineer, will be discussing the issue of fatigued drivers and what can be done to attempt to improve highway safety. Bob and Larry will be discussing the issue at the next Awake In Philly meeting, which will be held on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Room at the Northeast Regional Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia, 2228 Cottman Ave.

Trooper Deanny Wright will be talking about the issues of drowsy drivers from the legal aspect, including what happens when a law enforcement official stops someone they suspect is driving drowsy.

During the meeting, Bob, who’s been dubbed “Mr. Roadsense” by many, has 27 years of working in the field of highway safety under his belt, is a native of Britain, but decided the USA was the place he wanted to call home. 

While still living in Britain, Bob spent 14 years in the Road Traffic Division of the British Police Force.

Aside from his role in highway safety for PennDOT, Bob is also president and founder of CARS (Children and Adults for Road Safety). He is also an advanced driver, a qualified driving instructor, the program designer for BIKE (Bicycling Initiative for Kids’ Education), and is currently developing a driving program for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

During his part of the presentation, Bob will look at what all drivers can do to be safer when sitting behind the wheel.

Larry, on the other hand, has logged in the past 19 years with PennDOT, and spent 10 of those years as a traffic engineer. He's been a safety engineer at the King of Prussia field office for the past year.

“Traffic engineering was a career change from construction,” Larry said. Traffic is unique from the other engineering fields due to the human factors, such as the perception and reaction times that must be taken into consideration when looking at solutions to various issues. 

Problems on the roadway are always different, but they usually can be diagnosed into a few causes, Larry said, and he looks forward to new challenges to help make the road of Pennsylvania a safer place to drive.

One of the solutions Larry will discuss to help combat fatigued driving accidents is the implementation of rumble strips on Pennsylvania roadways. 

Rumble strips are those grooved surfaces alongside shoulder, closest to the roadway.

To help understand some of the issues with fatigued drivers, forty-two percent of adults responding to the NSF’s study reported they became stressed while driving drowsy, and 32% say they got impatient. Twelve percent of the adults admitted that they drove faster while they were sleepy. Nearly 22 percent of the younger drivers polled also admitted to having sped while drowsy.

“Driving while drowsy is no different than driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” says Richard Gelula, NSF’s Executive Director. “Sleepiness slows reaction time, decreases awareness and impairs judgment,” Gelula said. “Now we’re finding that sleepy drivers are more tense and impatient, and may even be speeding up when they should really be stopping to rest.”

NSF’s poll statistics indicate there are a significant number of sleepy people in the U.S. Forty-three percent of American adults say they are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with daily activities a few days a month or more; one out of five people say this level of sleepiness affects them two or more days a week. 

What’s the best strategy to cope with fatigue while on the road? If you listen to Gelula, the answer is to simply “pull over in a safe place and take a short nap.”

While 22 percent of the drivers responding to the poll report they did just that when they were sleepy while driving, 63 percent said they turn to caffeine for relief from fatigue -- an effective, but temporary solution, at best.

Sleep disorders, which contribute to the national sleep debt, are more prevalent than most people believe. In fact, it’s estimated that approximately one in every five people suffers from at least one sleep disorder. Sleep apnea, narcolepsy, periodic leg movements, and insomnia are just a few of the many sleep disorders that can, and do, rob us of the sleep we need.

Sleep disorders, especially apnea, can impact a person’s life in many ways, including excessive daytime sleepiness, heart and lung damage, greater risk of stroke and high blood pressure, memory loss, the potential for greater involvement in traffic accidents because of tiredness, sexual dysfunction, mood swings, a decrease in productivity, weight gain, among others.

The book, Desperately Seeking Snoozin' (The Insomnia Cure from Awake to Zzzz), by John Wiedman, will be given away. The book was donated to Awake In Philly by TalkAboutSleep.com for giveaway at the meeting. See the rules for all details of the drawing.

Awake In Philly meetings are designed to offer support to anyone who must deal with the impact of sleep apnea, including the patient, the spouse, a co-worker or supervisor, researchers, physicians, attorneys, among others. Everyone is encouraged to attend the meetings.

As of October 1, 2002 at 11:27:08 AM EDT (-0500), the U.S. population was 
288,181,442. With estimates that about five percent of the population suffers from

obstructive sleep apnea, that means there are potentially

14,409,072 apneics in the U.S.

As of October 1, 2002 at 11:27:08 AM EDT (-0500), the world population was 
6,253,616,576. With estimates that about five percent of the population suffers 
from obstructive sleep apnea, that means there are potentially

312,680,829 apneics in the world.

Awake In Philly is a support group for individuals who have been diagnosed with at least one of the recognized sleep disorders, as well as anyone else impacted by those with sleep disorders. The information on the Awake In Philly website is not intended to replace medical advice, nor is any information to be misinterpreted as an attempt to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. 

If you have questions about any of the medical conditions mentioned on this website, especially if you suspect that you (or someone you know) has sleep apnea, please contact a qualified medical professional immediately. The information is intended to provide support, guidance, and encouragement to others contending with the many challenges of sleep disorders. The goals of Awake In Philly are to support, educate, and inform those who feel the impact of sleep disorders, as well as the general public. Medical advice should only come from qualified, licensed, and trained health-care professionals.