AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - A Maine lawmaker is proposing a bill to make driving while fatigued a crime similar to driving while intoxicated.
Republican Rep. Stacey Guerin’s bill would make it a crime to drive without having slept during the previous 24 hours. Guerin testified before the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Monday.
The Portland Press Herald reports that Guerin proposed the bill at the request of constituents whose family member died in a North Windham car crash last year.
Twenty-six-year-old Craig McPherson of Portland was killed March 9, 2014, when another driver crossed the center line and hit McPherson’s car head on. The other driver told witnesses that she had been working the night shift and had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel.
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