Many US Transportation Employees Dangerously Sleep-Deprived
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Hemera/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Many of America’s truck drivers, pilots, train conductions and other transportation employees are sleep-deprived, according to a recently released study from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF).
HealthDay reports that one in 10 American transportation workers feel so fatigued while working that they pose major safety risks to commuters.
Nearly 11 percent of nationwide transportation employees work while drowsy, compared to 7 percent of non-transportation workers, the poll found.
“It is exciting that we are finally able to see the statistics and hopefully do something to improve the situations for our transportation workers,” sleep medicine expert Joyce Walsleben of the New York University School of Medicine in New York City said. Walsleben added that many transportation workers “are forced to work horrendous schedules, which puts us all in jeopardy. Too many societal tragedies have already occurred because of sleepiness.”
The 2012 survey polled nearly 1,100 pilots, truck drivers, train engineers and conductors, and bus, taxi and limousine drivers (all over the age of 25), as well as non-transportation workers to compare differences.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio