Blue Light Special For Tired Truckers

I don't really get it, blue light makes me sleepy? How is it suppose to keep you awake, but nonethless it was a very intresting article.

truckers taking pep pills!?! what the hell are you talking about?
FACT: 8 in ten accidents that involve trucks and cars are the CARS fault! (source; FMCSA.GOV)
FACT: All CDL drivers are drug tested at least twice a year and often far more then that
FACT: the average trucker drives over 250,000 miles a year with out any kind of accident...
FACT: truckers are monitored closly by the federal goverment to keep OFF THE ROAD a min. of 11 hours in every day, they CANT EVEN BE WORKING AT ALL< THEY MUST BE "in the sleeper"
FACT: If a cop sees a trucker sitting in the seat, stoped and he is due to be in his bunk, he could loose is CDL

It is the average joe that drivers poorly, drinks and drives, does drugs and drives, has no restrictions an the number of hours they may drive at all while a trucker IS NOT TO DRIVE MORE THEN 10 HOURS IN A 24 HOUR period, & they have to rest at least twice..

Science magazine!?! Yea right, get your facts straight before ya start tossing out the BS about that which ya obviously jnow NOTHING ABOUT!

-Steve Comins,
retired trucker

Yes this is not giving the whole story at all--swampscotter is right. Truck drivers are some of the safest people on the road and I know also that they are only allowed to drive for a certain amount of time and there is no reason for them to stay up more than they need to.

If you ask me, this invention would be so much more useful to a student (I sure could use some help staying awake for late night studying) or for a soldier in the field.

I found the invention very useful! I live in Brazil, and we don't have these rules that apply for US truckers. Here they can drive for as long as they want, and most drive 24/48h straight...!
I agree that truck drivers are among the safest drivers on the road, after all, my grandfather drove trucks for most of his life and he still teaches us (me and my cousins) how to drive safely. But there are some truckers that ARE 'poping pills' or staying awake for more than 24 hours - either here or anywhere else in the world; that's because some companies request deliveries that are in a far off place, and don't give too much time to do so, all in the name of profit.
On the other hand, I agree with evolutionist79 when he states that this invention would be useful to others, not only truck drivers. If the company responsible for developing and producing this made it for various purposes/users, I'd get one for my sleepless nights in front of the computer... ;)

Lizandra said "But there are some truckers that ARE 'poping pills' or staying awake for more than 24 hours - either here or anywhere else in the world; that's because some companies request deliveries that are in a far off place, and don't give too much time to do so, all in the name of profit."

In the US, regardless of the distance truckers still follow the HOS (hours of service) regulations.

She shows a common lack of knowledge common among lay people. If a company has an urgent deliverie, it is in motion nonstop, but by diferent drivers either working as a team (one drives, the other sleeps in a bed in back. Or the load is transfered between multiple drivers like the pony express.

Oh, and what is wrong with profit? Do you Lizandra work? If ya do how would ya like it if your boss said, "sorry, not pay this week?" I am sure that you would be a little put out. What if there were no incentive to do more for a greater reward?

Why should drug companies risk BILLIONS investing in new cures if there is no pay back?..Asprin will cure cancer, right? NO? Well I aint gonna RISK my money (says the drug comp) if I cant see a pay back.

Profit=a better life, lack of profit =stagnation, lack of rik, lack of inovation.

No Profit was tried...USSR was a backward basket case. Profit is human nature. so is love (and hate)..

GOD Bless capitalism and Profit & The USA!!!

swampscotter, you are correct in your recant of the DOT regulations regarding service hours... however, I question your interpretation of the statistics. Of course, there are more fatalities with cars because there are almost 30 times as many registered cars than large trucks.

If you go to http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/CarrierResearchResults/HTML/2006Crashfacts/2006LargeTruckCrashFacts.htm and compare the Large Truck Fatal Crash Statistics against the Passenger Vehicle Fatal Crash Statistics, you will see that truck drivers on average are NOT as safe as Passenger Vehicles.

In 2006, for every 100M miles traveled, truckers had 2.24 fatalities compared to 1.37 fatalities for cars. That tells me that truckers have 60% more fatalities than drivers of cars.

Now the question becomes... "Why are truckers having all of these accidents?" For this we need to go to another DOT study:
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/facts-research/research-technology/analysis/FMCSA-RRA-07-017.htm

Here we find that 87% of trucker accidents are due to driver issues... falling asleep, inattentive, distracted as well as heart attacks, driving too fast, driving too closely, driver panicked, etc. Hence, the reason for the blue light to keep the driver alert.

Does this mean we need to keep the truckers off the street to make our roads safe? Absolutely NOT. This country lives and dies by the truckers. Most everything we use, eat, buy or sleep on is dependent on a trucker to get it there.

My point is, we have an issue with fatalities, trucks and cars alike and if this device can reduce the fatalities for the drivers who are most prone to them, then we should not be against it.

Well! If the blue light does not keep the truckers awake the red one behind them wiil! I must ask a safety question as I believed that our truck drivers are only permitted to drive so many hours each day to reduce the adverse effects of tough driving conditions. hmm!

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