One state has a law aimed specifically at drowsy driving, other states condidering them

New Jersey is the only state that considers driving drowsy or fatigued as reckless driving. But an attempt to pass a national bill in 2003 expired in a House committee.

The New Jersey law was passed after a man who admitted to being awake for more than 30 hours killed a 20-year-old woman in a head-on collision.

In other parts of the country, proscutors have been successful in winning convictions against drivers who knew they were too sleepy or fatigued get behind the wheel.  But it has been inconsistent.

Here in Maryland, there have been convictions for such motorists.  But the most glaring example of charges not always being brought stems from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge crash in 2008.

In that case, truck driver John Short was driving across the Bay Bridge early in the morning.  A camaro driven by Candy Lynn Baldwin drifted into Short's lane.  He swerved to miss the car, broke through the bridge's railing and plunged into the Bay.  He died in the accident.

But prosecutors never filed criminal charges against Baldwin and the conclusion was that drivers who caused an accident because of fatigue are not negligent.