At about 8:30 a.m. on March 17, a police officer pulled up beside an electric car and observed a driver with her eyes closed and arms crossed while travelling eastbound on Highway No. 1 in Coquitlam in slippery, rainy conditions.
“The driver appeared to be literally asleep at the wheel,” said Cpl. Michael McLaughlin with BC Highway Patrol.
“The driver said that she had ‘zoned out’ but was fully alert with her hands on the steering wheel. In-car police video did not support the driver’s claim.”
A Metro Vancouver woman, 37, was issued a ticket for allegedly driving without due care and attention under section 144(1)(a) of the B.C. Motor Vehicle Act, carrying a fine of $368.
She was also ticketed for speeding against a highway sign under section 146(3) of the Act, with a fine of $138.
People always think of Japan and their poor salarypeople, sleeping in the train, missing their stop, and have to be waken up later and hope they aren’t on the last train. How sad it is that they have to work so late till night to take a late night train home.
What they didn’t think of is that they have a train to sleep in. Not putting aside the sometimes brutal work culture in Japan, but a lot of people can sleep on their way to work and back. Not us.
Had a terrible night and lack sleep? Drive to work. Kids throwing a hissy fit and you’re exhausted dealing with em? Drive em to school. Had a busy or terrible day at work? Drive back home.
Driving is for peasants, I have my own personal chauffeur.
He sits at the front of the train/subway/tram/bus.
She’s lucky it didn’t get her a coffin. No assistive driving tech is able to deal with 100% of the circumstances you may encounter on the road.
If you want to sleep on your commute, take the damn West Coast Express train, Miss.
Take away her licence so she doesn’t have a choice.
maybe find out why her current context led to her needing to sleep then and there.
Let her think about that while she is riding public transport.
It’s great that we have tech now that reduces driver mistakes somewhat from what used to happen. It’s also bad in a way because you know this is just a person who got caught doing something like this (whether it was just losing focus a bit or actually sleeping), and lots of other people have managed to do it without incident. Which of course, will reinforce the idea in their mind that it’s okay to do it.
Surely this is the behavior we want to encourage not punish? You falling asleep at the wheel? Pull over asap.
an electric car and observed a driver with her eyes closed and arms crossed while travelling eastbound
They were 100% sleeping with the auto pilot on.
Oh Jesus. Damn my reading comprehension is bad today. I had understood she was pulled over and received a ticket. Wtf.
Elon take the wheel
Only until 4 seconds before the crash, then Elon passes liability to you.
