Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
A drive up clear, dry Highway 195 at 9:30 in the morning Nov. 15 ended with Gerald Wickard’s wife dead.
A trip on Highway 26 on a quiet, warm May 30 at 7 a.m. ended with Jamie Ohl upside down in her Ford Escape in a ditch she doesn’t remember.
Two weeks ago, after a 35-day hospital stay in Spokane and further recovery, Ohl and her parents who live in Richland went to LaCrosse and Colfax to thank the EMTs.
There was no other traffic in those moments May 30.
There was Nov. 15.
Wickard, 57, driving a Chrysler LeBaron, was hit by a 3/4 ton Chevrolet pickup which suddenly veered into his lane. His wife Rodella, 60, died at the scene.
The cause of these accidents was the same: a driver who fell asleep.
The two incidents in Whitman County are part of what will total more than 1,550 deaths and 40,000 injuries this year, estimated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“You’d be surprised at how many we get every year,” said Bruce Blood, the Washington State Patrol trooper who investigated the scene on Highway 195.
In that case, a witness from behind watched as the truck, driven by Douglas Hinchey, 35, of Spokane, just faded out of his lane.
He was charged with negligent driving, a $550 fine.
“It seems inadequate,” said Blood. “But there’s nothing else we can charge them with.”
If a driver is seen veering, then correcting, then veering, he or she may be charged with “disregard for the safety of others,” which is because the veering and correcting indicates the driver knew they were getting drowsy.
That maximum penalty is 364 days in jail and a $5,000 fine.
“Without that, all we have left is negligent driving,” Blood said.
Hinchey, who was going to Lewiston that morning from Spokane, was transferred to Pullman Regional Hospital and later released.
“He was horrified by what happened,” Blood said.
Wickard was transferred by helicopter to Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane with a broken right leg.
Lives and penalties
When police officers or state troopers get a call from someone saying a vehicle is crossing the centerline, an officer will pull the driver over to check for impairment. If none is found and there is no evident drowsiness at that point there is nothing the police can do.
“The officer has to observe the weaving directly in order to (write an infraction),” said Blood.
If they do see it, the ticket is $124.
“For troopers, all of this is very frustrating,” Blood said. “Because how do you stop drowsy driving? A large portion of it is the responsibility of the driver themselves. They need to stop, get out, walk around the car if they’re in the middle of nowhere, if they’re near civilization, get a cup of coffee or soda. (The driver) is being negligent by pushing on.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that the 100,000 crashes per year due to drivers falling asleep at the wheel, or almost, is underreported.
This is due to a driver just not acknowledging that they fell asleep.
“After a collision, it’s very difficult for us to prove that they were sleepy,” said Blood.
One example of a way a car in a ditch might not be reported as a drowsy driving incident is that drivers say they were “dodging a deer.”
But Blood said that physical evidence often contradicts that, in the form of tire tracks or lack of.
“In the case of trying to avoid a deer, there would be evidence of skidding, large steering inputs which leave marks, even on dry pavement,” Blood said.
Overall, the 18-year veteran trooper suggested that drowsy driving may have a bigger impact than is yet known.
“It can be masked by other things,” he said. “When you’re drowsy, your reactions are slower and in a given situation on the road whether (needing to use defensive driving against) a tailgater, speeder or passer, if you’re fully awake, you’re able to react in time.”
New laws to come?
William Shaw of Issaquah is pushing for a change in the laws.
He as been involved in the issue on a personal level since his 18-year-old daughter was severely injured as a passenger in a fallen-asleep driver incident in 2006 on Blewett Pass.
In that case, the driver had been awake for more than 20 hours.
“If a driver causes injury or death due to drowsy driving we need to ramp up on the penalties,” Shaw said.
He heard about the local incident on Highway 195, which happened on the Friday of Washington State Drowsy Driving Prevention Week.
“It’s heartbreaking because a man wakes up in a hospital with injuries and finds out his wife is dead,” he said. “Because another man gets behind the wheel of his pickup exhausted.”
Overall, Shaw said his advocacy is against a particular kind of danger.
“I have a state patrol friend who said that even when you’ve had too much to drink, you can still do stuff to some degree. You can correct, over-correct. But if you’re asleep, you can’t do anything. It seems a bit more innocent, but it’s not.”
Trooper Blood concurred.
“Drivers have a responsibility to their passengers and other motorists around them,” he said. “The results can be tragic.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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