I worked for many years on the roads.
Unlike aviation the road enforcement and regs don’t make such a fuss to seperate out tiredness is tolerable but it’s fatigue that is bad. They just draw the line at tiredness (hence those tiredness can kill matrix signs). You’re either in a fit state and alert or not. Certainly on the HGV side of things for example. The muddied waters between fatigue and tiredness get out clause wasn’t something DVSA and Police were interested in.
If you have a smash causing harm and there was evidence you chose to drive whilst not alert due lack of lack of sleep then you could be prosecuted. You don’t have to fall asleep and crash to be prosecuted either. They can try and fit you for driving without care or attention if you’re wandering about the road a little. Forget airline liability. When it comes to the driving it’s down to the plant pot behind the wheel. Up to you if you drive when not fit. That’s the way the law lot look at it.
A artic driver on the M60 fell asleep due lack of decent nights kip, crossed the central reservation and took out several vehicles. He was convicted of death by dangerous driving and a large amount of the evidence relied on his lack of sleep 4 hours prior to work due staying up late (which he admitted in interview).
You can land a jet from a trans Atlantic with predictably nothing but pitiful rest from a 24 hour layover (perhaps two hours before pick up 10 hours before landing) and a merely out the gates and up the road be pulled over in your car to find traffic enforcement take a different view than FTLs of what’s a safe amount of sleep before operating machinery.
Besides all that blab anyway, you don’t want to have a incident so don’t try and press on. We’ve all had the nodding donkey scares once in our lives. Just ain’t worth it! I used to kip in the services up the road on the way home from trips but kept sleeping through my alarm and getting tickets
. Found a lay-by instead ha. A nap of an hour or two and plenty of coffee and an open window. I always then pulled over for another snooze if felt getting weary again. Switch on a really bad radio station like that hideous radio 2 and that even more annoying Jeremy Wine. You’ll be so annoyed at the utter dross coming out of the speakers you’ll stay right awake!
Ill be damned having long since left working on the road I’ll be killed on the roads as a result of an airline