For those of you turning on your rest,
Beware!

Excerpts from the Christian Science Monitor- August 12, 2003 and other sources:

Last week, the state of New Jersey became the first in the nation to allow prosecutors to charge a drowsy driver with vehicular homicide, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine if they have been awake for more than 24 hours straight.

The anti-drowsy law is known in the state as Maggie's Law. The Maggie in this case was Maggie McDonnell, a college student who died in 1997 after a car swerved across three lanes. The driver of the car said he had not slept for 30 hours. His lawyer convinced the court that driving while exhausted was not a crime, and the driver received a $200 fine.

Maggie's mother began a campaign to make such driving a serious crime when a fatality takes place. "She lobbied and cajoled to make sure whatever loophole was in the law would be closed," says Marcia Stein of the Sleep Foundation in Washington.

Other states may be following New Jersey's lead. There is a proposed anti-drowsy-driving bill in New York. And Rep. Robert Andrews (D) of New Jersey has introduced a federal version of Maggie's Law. It would provide funding for education, police training, and the installation of rumble strips - raised sections of pavement to help keep drivers awake.

Such laws may help highlight a major problem, says Darrel Drobnich, a policy expert at the Sleep Foundation. The foundation's surveys have found that 50 percent of those polled admit to having driven drowsy, while 17 percent say they have fallen asleep at the wheel. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, some 100,000 crashes and 1,550 fatalities are associated with drowsy driving. "Drunk-driving laws were on the books since the 1880s, but it wasn't until MADD raised the issue that it became a stigma," he says.