The Faces of Drowsy Driving

Thousands of deaths and injuries occur each year as a result of drowsy driving, and anyone who drives is at risk of falling asleep at the wheel. NSF urges all drivers not to drive while sleepy. Doing so puts your own life and the lives of others at risk. Here is a look at some of the lives that have been devastated by car crashes related to driver sleepiness.

Brent D. Arcangel
On July 13, 2003, 23-year old Brent D. Arcangel was a passenger in a car driven by a friend. Another friend was in the backseat. They had just spent the day on a boat in Hartford, Connecticut, and they were worn out from not having slept much the night before. At about 2:15 a.m., the group decided on a whim to make the drive to their hometown near Buffalo, NY, nearly 400 miles away, rather than stay the night in Hartford. Shortly after setting out, Brent and the backseat passenger fell asleep. Soon afterwards, sleepiness overcame the driver. He fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a center divide of a four lane highway, injuring himself and the backseat passenger. Brent was killed on impact.

Rusty Burris
On June 3, 1990, 18-year old Rusty Burris was driving home after having been awake for more than 36 hours. He knew that he was significantly sleepy, having dozed off during visits to friends and family in the hours leading up to the drive home. Still, Rusty decided to make the trip. In an instant, his life changed forever when he fell asleep at the wheel only 90 seconds from home. His car hit a driveway embankment and was sent airborne. Not wearing a seatbelt, Rusty was ejected through the sunroof and became paralyzed instantly from the mid-chest down.

"I did this to myself. If I did this to someone else, I don't know how I could make it." – Rusty Burris

Jane Callaghy
On April 1, 2001, Tom Callaghy was driving home from a dog competition in Norfolk, Virginia, with his wife who was asleep in the passenger seat. It was a gloomy day on a long rural road and Tom was fighting the urge to sleep. Realizing that he might doze off, he reached over to wake up Jane. The next thing he knew the car was leaving the highway and about to crash into a stand of trees. Tom had fallen asleep. His beloved Jane, his life partner, died in the seat next to him.

“Drowsy driving is not hard to prevent; people just need to know what to do. If I knew then what I know now, Janie would still be alive.” – Tom Callaghy, Jane’s husband

Katie Drentlaw
On April 25, 1998, 18-year old Katie Drentlaw had every reason to feel excited about life. She had just accepted an offer for a full track scholarship at Southeast Missouri State University. She had spent the day watching her future teammates compete in Des Moines, Iowa, and was headed back to her hometown three and a half hours away. Tragically, she never made it. Just 12 miles from her house, Katie fell asleep at the wheel, crashing her sport utility vehicle. Her passenger, a friend and fellow athlete, suffered several broken bones. Katie was killed instantly.

Jeff Izer
On October 10, 1993, four teenagers were on their way to a haunted hayride in Lisbon, Maine, when their car overheated. After pulling onto the shoulder lane of the highway to cool the car down, they were struck by a Wal-Mart truck driver who had fallen asleep at the wheel. Later, the Wal-Mart driver admitted to being sleep-deprived and to having falsified his logbook in order to keep driving. The crash killed Jeff Izer and three of the four other teenagers with him that day. Another teen was seriously injured.
 
"No load of freight is worth a human life." -- Daphne Izer, Jeff's mother and founder of Parents against Tired Truckers (PATT), a non-profit organization

Kevin Mackey
On September 5, 1998, 14-year old Kevin Mackey was riding his bicycle in his quiet suburban neighborhood in Potomac, Maryland. Without warning, he was struck and killed by a postal worker who was driving home after an 11-hour shift that began at 4:00 a.m. The postal worker admitted that she hadn't slept the day before the accident, and that she was struggling to stay awake behind the wheel.

Maggie McDonnell
On July 2, 1997, 20-year old Maggie McDonnell was helping out a co-worker when she drove to work at 11:30 a.m. Sadly, she never made it there. She was killed by a man who fell asleep while driving and hit Maggie's car head-on. He admitted that he had been awake for 30 hours after he smoked “crack” cocaine at a local drug house. Yet, because there was no specific law addressing fatigue or drowsy driving in New Jersey at the time, the jury was not allowed to deliberate on the man’s sleep deprivation and his punishment for killing Maggie was a suspended jail sentence and a $200 fine. Yet, from tragedy came hope. Carole McDonnell, Maggie’s mother, successfully lobbied the State of New Jersey to enact the nation's first drowsy driving law. Titled “Maggie's Law,” it establishes fatigued driving as recklessness under the state’s vehicular homicide statute.

"The man who killed Maggie made a choice to drive while impaired by sleepiness. He only received a $200 fine - the same penalty he would have received for hitting a tree. Now, New Jersey has acknowledged that falling asleep at the wheel and killing someone is a major crime." -- Carole McDonnell, Maggie's mother

Marvin B. Parks
On the afternoon of December 21, 1999, Melissa Cullen and her father, Marvin B. Parks, were driving to visit the grave of Marvin's wife and Melissa's mother who had died just a few months earlier. Suddenly, a car appeared in their lane and struck them head-on. The driver of the other car, a 39 year-old woman who only slept three hours in the previous 24 hours, had fallen asleep at the wheel. The crash left Melissa with multiple serious and lasting injuries. Marvin did not survive the crash.

"I noticed in front of us a large car had crossed over in our lane. I remember telling my dad that I didn't even see a driver." -- Melissa Cullen, daughter of Marvin B. Parks

Major Robert Raneri, U.S. Army Reserves
On June 26, 2002, Major Robert Raneri was traveling to work. It was his last day on the job before his wedding, which was planned for just seven days later. Though he did not know it, his fiancée was carrying his child. He was to become a father on March 18 of the following year. Tragically, his life was cut short when 19 year-old Christopher Chickering fell asleep while driving, crossing the center divide and hitting Robert's motorcycle head on, causing his death. For Amy Huther, Robert's bride-to-be, the pain of losing Robert still overwhelms her.

"We had been planning our wedding for more than a year,” she says. “In an instant, our wedding plans turned to funeral plans because of a drowsy driver. Rob wanted children more than anything in the world, but his daughter will never know her father. He didn't even know I was pregnant." -- Amy Huther, Robert Raneri's fiancée

Shannon Tucker
On November 17, 1989, Shannon Tucker was severely injured by a drowsy driver. She was a college sophomore driving home to visit her parents for the weekend. Her car was hit by a man in a pick-up truck who had been awake before sunrise working on a construction project. On his drive home, he fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into Shannon's car. Shannon woke up 38 days later in the hospital. Severe head injuries had destroyed 30% of her brain and she was paralyzed on the right side. For the next three years, she would endure intensive rehabilitation, including learning to walk, talk and eat again.

“Shannon’s car was no match for that sleeping driver in a pickup truck and trailer. Though in a lap and shoulder belt, her head went through the dashboard of her car.” – Judy Tucker, Shannon’s mother