Drowsy driving is as dangerous as drunk driving, causing thousands of accidents on Georgia roads each year. Overbird Law holds fatigued drivers and their employers accountable.
Georgia Drowsy Driving Accident Attorney
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving causes approximately 100,000 police-reported crashes annually, resulting in more than 1,500 deaths and 71,000 injuries. A driver who has been awake for 18 hours has impairment equivalent to a blood alcohol content of 0.05%, and after 24 hours of wakefulness, impairment equals a BAC of 0.10% — well above Georgia's legal limit. Despite these dangers, there is no breathalyzer for fatigue, making these cases challenging to prove without experienced legal counsel.
Fatigued driving accidents are particularly common among commercial truck drivers, shift workers, long-distance commuters, and drivers with untreated sleep disorders. When a commercial truck driver causes a fatigue-related accident, federal Hours of Service regulations (49 CFR Part 395) and Georgia transportation laws may hold the trucking company liable for pressuring drivers to exceed safe driving hours. Attorney Jonathan Overman investigates electronic logging device (ELD) data, dispatch records, and driver schedules to prove fatigue.
Under Georgia's negligence law (O.C.G.A. § 51-1-6), a driver who operates a vehicle while dangerously fatigued is negligent because they knew or should have known they were too tired to drive safely. Evidence of fatigue includes the absence of skid marks (indicating the driver fell asleep), lane departure patterns, time-of-day analysis, the driver's sleep history, work schedule records, and testimony from witnesses who observed the driver's condition before the crash.
Fatigued driving crashes often involve single-vehicle run-off-road accidents, head-on collisions from drifting across the center line, and rear-end collisions where the drowsy driver fails to brake. These crashes tend to occur at high speed because the sleeping driver makes no attempt to slow down or avoid the collision. The injuries are frequently catastrophic, and the legal claims can be complex — especially when employer liability is involved. Overbird Law has the resources and experience to handle these demanding cases.
Drowsy driving accidents are preventable. If you were injured by a fatigued driver, let us fight for your compensation.
Fatigue Accident Claims
We use electronic logging data, work schedules, cell phone activity records, and accident reconstruction to prove the at-fault driver was dangerously fatigued at the time of the crash.
Trucking companies that pressure drivers to violate Hours of Service regulations share liability when fatigue causes an accident. We hold both the driver and employer accountable.
Drivers with diagnosed but untreated sleep disorders like sleep apnea who cause accidents may face heightened liability for knowingly driving while impaired by their condition.
When employers require excessive work hours or fail to provide adequate rest periods, they can be held liable under respondeat superior and negligent scheduling theories.
Contact us today for a free, no-obligation case review.
