West Virginia truck drivers often deal with fatigue while operating their vehicles. It is not uncommon for a commercial trucker to drive 70 hours or more each week. This is partially why the turnover rate can exceed 90 percent. In addition to high turnover rates, drowsy driving is thought to cause at least 100,000 accidents per year involving commercial vehicles.
However, the roads could safer thanks to a company called BlyncSync. It aims to use smart glasses to capture data regarding how often a driver blinks. The company says that it can be a sign of whether a driver is drowsy. Other signs that indicate a driver could be drowsy include a tilting head or yawning. The glasses are designed to be less intrusive than cameras mounted in the truck’s cab.
In developing its business plan, the company talked with drivers and others in the trucking industry. It learned that there is a driver shortage caused partially by the high turnover rates. The goal is to both make roads safer and improve the driver experience at the same time. Doing so may make it easier to keep drivers from leaving while also helping to bring down insurance rates for truck owners as there will be fewer accidents.
A tired truck driver may not have the reaction speed needed to avoid an accident. Truck drivers may not stop or slow down at all because they were too tired to realize a collision was about to take place. Generally speaking, fatigued driving is considered to be negligence. Therefore, the operators of commercial vehicles that cause truck accidents may be held liable for the losses that injured victims incur.
