It’s no use denying that fatigue doesn’t contribute to fatal accidents, so why should it be treated any differently than drunk driving? One could argue that leaving it up to individuals to decide is good enough, but people make poor choices all the time. In an ideal world, for example, nobody would ever drive while drunk.
The main issue is deciding on a baseline for when a person gets fined or arrested. Though scientists have done many studies on sleep, it remains a mystery in many ways. We know from the details that the scientists have identified five markers that can tell whether a person has been awake for longer than 24 hours with 99% accuracy. Previous studies show that’s enough to be classified as drunk. Fatigue detection systems may someday have to restrict driving from tired users.
We do wonder about the punishment, however. Hitting the road after knowingly drinking six Buds is a bit different than driving for 20 hours because you want to sleep in your own bed.