Heavy, drowsy truckers pose risk on the road

Link between obesity and crash deaths isn't clear
“Until you can show a direct relationship between sleep apnea and deaths on the road, they can’t do anything about it,” he said. “It won’t fly.”

The American Trucking Associations, a group representing some 38,000 members, is more circumspect. Christie Cullinan, director of workplace and fleet safety, said the organization recognizes that sleep apnea is a public safety issue and that the group supports the idea of guidance to detect and correct the problem.

After all, the average cost of a large truck crash involving a fatality is $3.6 million, FMCSA figures show. A crash with injuries costs nearly $200,000. And the average cost of all large truck crashes is about $91,000.  

Still, any guidance has to be the right guidance, Cullinan said.

“I don’t think there’s a CEO that doesn’t know that screening for sleep apnea banks your safety dollars,” she said. “But there’s a balance that needs to be met.”

As it stands now, sleep apnea screening is left to a single, easily dodged question on a certification exam, Kales and others said. As his study showed, many drivers simply ignore referrals for sleep studies, or they ignore the treatment. Some resort to “doctor-shopping,” seeking certifiers who will overlook sleep apnea. That’s primarily because they’re afraid of losing their licenses, people on all sides of the issue agree.

“Truckers have quite a fear of disclosing that they get sleepy when they drive because it might mean their livelihood,” said Wendy Sullivan, vice president of Precision Pulmonary Diagnositics, a Houston company that created a sleep apnea screening tool used by at least two trucking firms that have started testing their drivers.

One trucking firm, Schneider National Inc. based in Green Bay, Wis., became an industry leader on the issue after a pilot project begun in 2003 showed that screening drivers reduced crashes, cut liability costs, increased retention — and trimmed employee health expenses by more than $500 a month.

Now, the firm screens all of its 15,000 drivers and treats and monitors the 1,400 or so diagnosed with sleep apnea, said Don Osterberg, Schneider’s vice president of safety and driver training.

‘You're going to feel better and you're going to be safer’
“We want to remove those barriers,” he said. “Come forward, let us help you get treated for this. You’re going to feel better and you’re going to be safer.”

But officials at Schneider and Swift Transportation, the firm Kenneth Armstrong works for, acknowledge that change will come slowly, despite danger, unless it’s mandated.

“The science speaks for itself. We know there’s an issue out there,” said Scott E. Barker, vice president of safety, recruiting and driver services for Swift, which launched its pilot project this year. “I believe there’s going to be regulation. We’re just trying to get out ahead of it.”

Armstrong said he tries to do his part to inform fellow truckers about the benefits of sleep apnea detection and treatment. In the meantime, he's starting work on losing weight.

“I tell them, ‘Get it done,’” he said. “You can’t treat sleep apnea like a bad haircut, that time will solve it. It won’t solve itself.’”

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