Black Friday Worker Rescued From Canal After Losing Control Of Car Due To Exhaustion

[IDemo]

Source: The Huffington Post

A 36-year-old Target employee drove her car into a 20-foot deep canal after working the night shift on Black Friday.

Florida police said the woman lost control of her vehicle due to exhaustion, reports Miami New Times.

The woman is unable to swim, but managed to call police from her cell phone and explain the situation as she and the car began to sink, notes NBC Miami.

Palm Beach County sheriff's deputy Frank Mayo dove into the canal to save the unidentified woman, reports The Palm Beach Post.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/26/black-friday-worker-rescued_n_1114350.html

[MADem]

1. Jesus. She was lucky. Good thing the police got there in time. NT

[bengalherder]

2. A friend of mine lost her teenage daughter in a similar circumstance.

She had been both driving and working at a big box store for just about a year. She was working extra shifts around the holidays and tried to drive home exhausted after a double shift. She lost control on the ice and wound up in a nearby field.

Frankly I think there should be limits on allowable shift lengths and back-to-back scheduling. It is dangerous and I bet even non-fatal accidents go up, let alone the fatality accidents that make the news.

[bossy22]

4. I partly disagree

I think maybe a protection should be put in place where a person can opt out of such a situation but i dont think a hard limit should be placed on how much a person can work. Back in college i used to do a 30 hour shift once in awhile (i help set up for concerts- like the lighting, stage, sound, etc) and I loved it. Yes, I was absolutely exhausted after such work but it felt good to have $300 in my pocket.

[appleannie1]

6. Son is a crew chief. They do the 24 hour Daytona and LeMans. Work about 40 hours straight.

[PavePusher]

8. I'm a USAF aircraft mechanic.

We've got rules about this sort of thing, but it's still not uncommon to pull 2-3 days straight when deployed. And occasionally at home too. You learn to do it... or you find another job.

[happyslug]

11. The problem is NOT when you are active, but the "dead" times

Whenever I have done 24-48 hour jobs, the problem was NEVER when I was active, but during times when I was inactive. It is those time periods that your body wants to shut down, and does. Thus the numerous reports on this thread of people driving after working hard. You get into your car and relax and as you drive you body shuts down.

The military has known this for centuries, thus the concern for a good nights sleep the day before combat NOT on the days to or from a battle.

Truckers have known this for decades, thus the Federal Rules forbidding driving more then 12 hours a day. You can push it once or twice but once you hit 24 hours and everything is calm and smooth, your body decides it time to sleep, even while driving 55 mph.

Thus the problem is NOT that people are working this long, but the fact they have to DRIVE home to sleep. You may be able to stand around for 15-30 minutes after doing a 24-48 hour shift, but generally you go off your shift you WALK to your cot and go to sleep.

Thus the only way to avoid such shut down of the body while driving is to make sure you either do NOT need the sleep(Restrict work to 12 hours per day or less), or you require employers who do require such work to provide someplace to sleep without having to drive. The former is easier to do in non-military situations then the latter (While the latter, i.e. providing a place to sleep, is easier to do with most military situations).

[-..__...]

3. Probably had to work the extra hours...

restocking shelves due to inconsiderate, childish, assholes that loaded their shopping carts up, then abandoned them at the check-out lines.

[Rozlee]

5. On top of it all, they'll probably fire her for the bad publicity...

...brought on their corporation. "That tired? Now, you can rest all you want!" :grr:

[alp227]

7. Next time the companies should pay for a taxi!

[SoapBox]

9. A fellow employee was killed in a car accident, years ago...

We all knew why...he drove off the road, probably when he fell asleep.

There had been many, many, MANY complaints, that people were so exhausted that they couldn't even
think, after working (basically) day shift, followed by a grave yard, followed by a day and followed
by another grave yard.

The fellow employee, then was driving a good 150 miles home...he ran off the road the day
before Thanksgiving.

Right after that happened...the company changed that particular work schedule...no more
"back to back" day/grave yard.

[Citizen Worker]

10. Human life is quite expendable in the service of capitalism. Should this exhausted worker miss work

due to the accident she'll probably be fired and with unemployment at 20% it won't be difficult to find a replacement.

[PatrynXX]

12. thats target for you

just stay far away. Target used to be something to look up to. then they got worse than walmart. especially as far as 3rd party donations ie. fuck salvation army and toys for tots now how the fuck do I know they do anything. sure they say it on paper. that don't mean shit to me.

[Bombero1956]

13. well now she has no car

Bet they expect her back to work on her next scheduled shift. after all she rested now.:sarcasm:

[Liberty Belle]

14. comment posted:

don't worry when Republicans get elected and have their way, employees won't be old enough to drive.

[tawadi]

15. We need to learn how to take a holiday

Sadly, this probably happens all the time. Most of us are working harder, for less, every day.