Trucking deregulation might have been a boon to businesses and consumers by resulting in lower costs of goods and services, but it didn't alleviate the problem of fatigue for truck drivers. On the contrary, it might have added to the pressures that lead to fatigue. Speed of physical reaction time and speed of thought processes are slowed. There is a tendency to make mental errors and flawed judgments. False responding, or responding when a stimulus isn't present, also increases.
Memory errors are more likely to occur.
Finally, vigilance decreases, and motivation is reduced. The Safety Board has issued about 80 fatigue-related safety recommendations since 1972 to the modal administrations in the Department of Transportation, transportation operators, associations and unions. In 1989, we issued three major safety recommendations to DOT, asking the Secretary to expedite a coordinated research program on the effects of fatigue on all modes of transportation, to develop an educational program and to review hours of service regulations. This is on our list of Most Wanted Safety Recommendations. But a study of ours indicates that fatigue represents a substantial portion of it.