The U.S. government should start screening truck and bus drivers, commercial pilots, train engineers and merchant sailors for sleep apnea, a disorder that is cropping up in transportation accidents, federal safety investigators said Tuesday.
聯邦安全調查人員二十日說，美國政府應該開始檢查貨車及巴士司機、商業飛行員、火車工程師和商船水手是否有睡眠呼吸暫停症這種出現在交通意外中的障礙。
The National Transportation Safety Board sent letters to the federal agency that regulates bus and truck safety and the U.S. Coast Guard citing accidents in which sleep apnea was a factor. The disorder causes pauses in breathing, which can interrupt sleep and increase fatigue.
國家運輸安全委員會致函聯邦監管公共汽車和卡車安全以及美國海岸防衛隊的機構，指出在交通意外中，睡眠呼吸暫停是一個因素。這種病症導致呼吸暫停，可中斷睡眠，增加疲勞。
The letters recommend the Coast Guard and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration require screening of ship pilots and bus and truck drivers for sleep apnea during medical exams and to develop programs to identify the disorder.
函件建議海岸防衛隊和聯邦汽車運輸安全管理局，要求體檢時檢查船舶駕駛員、公共汽車和卡車司機是否有睡眠呼吸暫停障礙，並制定計劃確認這種病症。
Sleep apnea has been found to be a factor in incidents involving every transportation mode, NTSB Chairman Deborah Hersman said in the letters.
Earlier this year, the board sent similar recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration and to local transit agencies across the country.
國家運輸安全委員會主席赫斯曼在函中說，睡眠呼吸暫停已發現是涉及每一種運輸方式的意外的一個因素。今年稍早，該委員會曾向美國聯邦航空管理局和全國地方公交公司發出類似建議。
Among the incidents cited in the letters:
_ In January 2008, a motorcoach with passengers returning from a weekend ski trip went too fast around a curve on a rural Utah highway. The bus went careening down a mountainside, killing nine people and injuring 43 others. The driver suffered from sleep apnea and had trouble using a device to regulate his breathing while sleeping in the days before the accident.
函中提到的事件包括：
_ 2008年1月，一輛載客大巴從週末滑雪旅程返回時，在猶他州的農村公路轉彎時開太快，結果巴士傾倒衝下山坡，造成九人死亡，四十三人受傷。司機患有睡眠呼吸暫停症，事故發生前幾天睡覺時，使用調整他呼吸的設備，還有困難。
_ A trolley train that crashed into another train in May 2008 in Newton, Massachusetts. Investigators said the driver likely fell asleep because she suffered from sleep apnea, but it could not be proved because she died.
_一列電車2008年5月在麻薩諸塞州牛頓撞到另一列火車。調查人員說，司機可能因患有睡眠呼吸暫停症而睡著了，但無法證明，因為她死了。
A 2002 study that found 7 percent of adults have at least a moderate form of the disorder, but people often don't know they have it.
2002年的一項研究發現，百分之七的成年人至少有一些睡眠呼吸暫停的症狀，但人們往往不知道。
The motor carrier administration is already considering a rule to tighten its standards for medical certification of commercial drivers. The FAA is also in the process of drafting new rules to broadly address pilot fatigue and will consider the board's recommendations.
汽車運輸安全管理局已在考慮將商業駕駛的醫師證明標準規定得更緊。美國聯邦航空局也在起草新的規定，以廣泛地處理飛行員疲勞問題，並將考慮採納委員會的建議。
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