BOSTON -- Team 5 Investigates uncovered a serious safety issue that could be putting train and trolley drivers for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, as well as the public, in danger. NewsCenter 5's Sean Kelly reported Thursday that T managers didn't know their policy was being ignored.

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Across the country, three crashes have been tied to drivers who investigators believe might have been asleep at the switch. One person was killed and 69 injured on a New York subway. Twenty people were hospitalized after a Washington, D.C. Metro collision. And twenty-five people killed in California after their train smashed into a freight train.

Team 5 Investigates found a similar tragedy could easily happen here in Massachusetts. Despite repeated warnings from the federal government that driver fatigue is a killer, critics believe the MBTA continues to put riders at risk with questionable policies that some drivers said impair their abilities.

"I don't think it's safe," said a veteran MBTA driver who spoke to Team 5 Investigates on the condition of anonymity. The driver believes the MBTA is putting the public in danger by allowing train and trolley drivers to work 16- hour days. That's double the average workday for most, and more hours than people who drive freight trains, passenger trains, airplanes, motor coaches and big rigs are allowed to work.

So it's no wonder that "every once in a while one of the drivers will nod out," said the T driver. "Do you ever feel your eyes closing?" asked Kelly. "Sure, sure, and when that happens I can't wait to get to the other side of the line to wash my face," said the driver.

Experts call those lapses "micro-sleeps." "Sometimes when we're tired we have these moments where our eyes lose focus. You know, things get a little fuzzy or blurry. And all it really takes is a few seconds of missing a signal to have what could be a fatal accident," said Dr. Martin Moore-Ede, the president of Circadian Technologies.

Moore-Ede is an international expert on reducing fatigue in transportation systems. "If you have people working 16 hours or more, you're going to render a population of drivers who are actually quite impaired," said Ede. T officials opted not to hire him.

In fact, the MBTA is one of nine transit systems in the country that allows its workers to put in such long days. And unlike every other transportation agency, there are no federal safety standards the MBTA must follow.

"Is it safe for the operators and is it safe for the public?" asked Kelly.

"It's very safe for the operator as well as the passengers. We do limit the number of hours an operator is permitted to work during any given week, so we think it's well in hand," said Richard Leary, chief operating officer of the MBTA.

Team 5 Investigates reviewed three months worth of schedules for train and trolley drivers. Time after time, we found operators putting in more than 16 hours a day. In some cases, they worked 18, 20 even 22 hours! Operators on the orange line put in the longest days, followed by drivers on the green line, then the blue. In all, we found 22 violations of the MBTA's policy in just three months last spring.

"There is a culture, which is essentially crossing its fingers hoping that nothing will happen," said Ede.

Senior operators typically work the longest days in order to boost their pensions. "The older workers are the ones most vulnerable to fatigue," said Ede.

So what's the point of having a policy if nobody's making sure it's followed?" asked Kelly.

"You're the first to bring that to my attention and I'll have to look into that," said Leary.

"If the proper audits were being done, shouldn't that have been checked?" asked Kelly.

"Again, it hasn't been brought to my attention," said Leary.

"And you don't think that working this long of a day contributes to fatigue?" asked Kelly.

"If there was an issue of fatigue I'm sure they would have brought it to the union and the union would have brought it to me," said Leary.

But several operators told us the union is part of the problem. "I think if the union really represented their people, they would have looked into the matter," said the unidentified T driver.

Steve MacDougall, president of the Carmen's Union, said he doesn't have any problem with his drivers working 16-hour days, "We support those standards." But MacDougall was surprised to find out some of his drivers are working much more than that. "It's always a concern when managers aren't actively managing and the workforce is potentially put in a position to work beyond their limits," said MacDougall.

The state Department of Public Utilities is supposed to be making sure the MBTA follows its own rules. But the DPU has never done an audit like the one Team 5 Investigates did. And that concerns passengers such as John Cater from the T Riders Union. "Usually it takes something bad to happen before anybody addresses the situation," said Cater.

A spokesperson for the DPU said the agency will now review the T's scheduling practices as part of its ongoing audit of the agency. As for the T, they claim they take this issue seriously and have taken six drivers out of service within the past two years for sleeping disorders.