There are many valid points to this topic, could the Transport Authority be held resonsible in not providing rest facilities and therefore forcing a motorist to continue driving whilst unfit and not pull over into a convenient lay-by. I recon O.J's lawyers would have worked on that one. Aviation is a legal mine field and most of us break a few regulations every day without realising it. A recent statistic claimed it would take about 240years to read all the laws which have currently been passed. Many of these appear to be of little consequence but what has been brought home by the above case is how easily it could have been us, either on a motorway or making our burning mark in history in a "crash comic". We have our responsibilities to the general public and to our families whom we have to feed. There is no way we can legislate to make operations as safe at 4am as at 11am, our body specs do not allow for that luxury. Evolution programmed our bodies to rise at sun-up and sleep at night and they will only accept a slow change in the order of 2 hours per day. It is all very fine to legislate for proper rest but it is necessary for an indepenent party to confirm we are rested, we are not able to rate ourselves. Sleep fatique impairs our judgement. Note the drunk driver who considers he was driving perfectly when stopped by police; at least he could resort to a breathalizer. Maybe a practical test for us at sign-in would be which is more attractive another day off or a club sandwich.
Incase some think I am unsympathetic, let me state that except for the spacing between a row of 50ft trees and my car having a sense of self preservation I wouldn't be tapping away on this keyboard. That was on the way to a night duty. Since that reprieve I declined an offer to fly from MAN when my BRS base closed; a 4hr drive. I traded that for a life of 14hours across the Pacific which has partially solved the problem as I can't go home after work.
What I can highly recommend is to get hold of a copy of "The 24hr Society" which should be required reading for all shift workers. It will keep you awake for hours.Promise.