Re: “Ex-corrections officer pleads not guilty in July crash that killed 9-year-old girl” (Jan. 7, Page B1):

Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce needs to do more research on the subject of the dangers presented by sleepy drivers. I quickly found many reviews on the relationship between workers after extended shifts and injury risk from accidents. One done by New Zealand scientists found “an almost sixfold increase in the odds of injury-involved crashes for vehicles driven by people who were not fully alert or (were) sleepy.”

Sheriff Joyce and the jail workers union need to acknowledge the continuing danger inherent in jail employees doing double, 16-hour, shifts. Long-distance truck drivers have to take a 10-hour break after driving 12 hours.

I am not a traffic engineer or a police officer or an emergency medical technician, but I live in Gorham and often drive on Route 25 (where the fatal crash involving Kenneth Morang took place after Morang worked 16 hours at the county jail). Changes must be made to the insane policy on overtime at our jails and other institutions.

David Alexander
Gorham

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