Falling Asleep at the Wheel

“We got permission to go to David’s wedding!” Ari exclaimed to his fellow counselors. “We just have to be back in camp by 1:30 a.m. I have room for four more in my car.”

After lunch, Ari and his friends started out to the city. He managed an hour’s nap at home before arriving at the wedding.

At 11:00 p.m. sharp, Ari and his friends wished David “Mazal Tov!” and began the two-and-a-half-hour trip back to camp.

“Everybody buckled?” Ari asked.

A chorus of clicks answered him.

For two hours, the trip was uneventful. Ari chatted with his friends about the wedding, but one by one the friends dozed off. By 1 a.m., only Ari remained awake, grinding on mile after mile in the dark.

He turned on music and shifted in his seat, struggling to ward off his tiredness. “Only 20 minutes left,” Ari said to himself. A moment later, his eyes closed. The car drifted onto the shoulder, veered off the road, and slid down an embankment to a jolting stop.

“Is everyone OK?” Ari shouted, shaken.

Baruch Hashem, everyone was buckled and no lives were lost. Still, two counselors suffered broken bones and other injuries that required hospitalization for several days and further recuperation for the remainder of the summer.

Insurance covered most of their medical expenses, but not everything. The injured counselors also were unable to return to camp.

Ari visited them after camp.

“Thank G-d we’re all alive,” one of his friends said. “I had to pay a co-pay for my medical follow-ups, though, and lost a month’s salary. I think you should compensate us.”

“I feel awful about what happened,” Ari apologized, “but I was doing everyone a favor by driving.”

“But you were the driver,” replied his friend. “You were responsible to get us back safely!”

“I didn’t directly injure anyone – at most it was indirect grama,” Ari replied. “Besides, I rested beforehand. Sleep simply overtook me – it was an oness.”

Yet Ari was unsettled. He came before Rabbi Dayan and asked:

“Is a driver who is overcome by sleep halachically liable?”

“Rabbi C.Y.D. Weiss, shlita, addresses this issue in detail (Vaya’an David 2:256-260),” replied Rabbi Dayan. “Yabia Omer (9:5) also addresses it in short.”

“The consensus of poskim is that a person who damages or injures through driving is considered to have directly inflicted the damage (adam hamazik), since he controls the movements of the car.

A person who injures another willfully or through carelessness is liable in five payments: nezek (disability, permanent injury), tza’ar (pain), ripui (medical expenses), shevess (lost wages), and boshess (embarrassment). If there was some degree of oness,he is liable only for nezek (C.M. 421:1-3; Aruch HaShulchan 421:1).

Nowadays, though, the ability of beis din to enforce these payments is limited. Shulchan Aruch rules that beis din can adjudicate nowadays only ripui and shevess, but not the other payments. Rema curtails even adjudication of ripui and shevess, yet the inherent obligation exists on the perpetrator, and he is obligated to compensate the victim (C.M. 1:2,5).

Moreover, when signing an arbitration agreement, beis din can usually address all five payments within the authorization it is granted (C.M. 22:1; Pischei Teshuvah 1:3; Mishpat K'halacha 420:44, p. 482).

Halacha discusses in several places whether being overcome with sleep is considered oness (see Ketzos 303:1). Although some poskim apply this discussion to such a case as well, a driver is required to remain alert. Furthermore, a person almost always has preceding signs of drowsiness. If the driver feels tired, he should pull over to rest, stretch his legs, or switch with someone else; he should not continue to the point that he finally succumbs to sleep. If he does, this constitutes at least techilaso b’pshia v’sofo b’oness (C.M. 291:20), if not full negligence. Instances in which sleep suddenly overcomes the driver without warning are rare, usually due to some illness (Vaya’an David 2:257).

Although sometimes people risk their own lives and drive even when they are tired, this is not a reason to exempt them vis-à-vis others whom they injure.

“Thus,” concluded Rabbi Dayan, “you are liable for the injuries to the passengers, and cannot exempt yourself on the basis of indirect damage or oness. A person must drive responsibly, and not endanger himself or others.”

Verdict: A person who falls asleep at the wheel and injures others is considered adam hamazik, and liable to the extent that beis din can adjudicate. A person must drive safely and responsibly.