"Maggie's Law" Introduced in Congress

The first federal bill focusing on drowsy driving was introduced in the House of Representatives in October 2002 by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ). The bill calls for incentives for states and communities to develop traffic safety programs to reduce crashes related to driver fatigue and sleep deprivation. The legislation also calls for training for police officers, the creation of driver's education curriculum, standardized reporting of fatigue-related crashes on police report forms, and the promotion of countermeasures such as continuous shoulder rumble strips and rest areas.

The bill, HR 5543, is called "Maggie's Law: National Drowsy Driving Act of 2002." It was named after Maggie McDonnell, a 20-year old college student from Andrews' congressional district in New Jersey who was killed by a drowsy driver on July 20, 1997 at 11:30 a.m. when the car she was driving was hit head-on by a van that had crossed three lanes of traffic. The driver of the van told police he had not slept in 30 hours; he also admitted to smoking crack cocaine hours before the accident. Since the jury wasn't allowed to consider driver fatigue as a factor, he was only convicted of careless driving and fined $200. Read the bill.