Driver Tiredness
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Published on HSfB 20 August 2005
Driver tiredness is the biggest killer on our roads, particularly on motorways and other monotonous roads. One in five crashes on these roads is estimated to have been caused by drivers nodding off at the wheel and the ratio of serious injuries is even higher because a sleeping driver doesn’t brake before an accident. Driving at night or during the afternoon dip are the most dangerous times.
Some of the things people do when they are feeling tired whilst driving are opening a window, turning up the volume of the radio or just trying to fight sleep off. They don’t prevent sleep, especially the “microsleeps” of just a few seconds.
The Government’s recommendations if you feel tired while driving are:
- Drink two cups of coffee or, ideally, a high-caffeine drink.
- Take a ten minute snooze to give the caffeine time to kick in.
- If you are still tired don’t drive any further.
The advice adds that the effect of the caffeine only last 60 – 90 minutes and the only real solution is not to be tired in the first place.
Some of the things that can be done are:
- Get enough sleep – Obvious enough but it is impossible to stop yourself eventually falling asleep if you are shattered.
- Let people know if you are having trouble sleeping and take it into account when planning journeys.
- Make sure that any medication you take doesn’t cause drowsiness.
- Drive carefully and calmly and think about any possible hazards (like the nutter who is swapping lanes and cutting up cars in front of you to get wherever they are going a minute quicker, if they are lucky). It helps prevent boredom if nothing else.
- Be especially alert on long monotonous roads. Cruise control is a nice technological advance but can make it even easier to fall asleep.
- Be especially careful and if possible avoid driving at the most dangerous times, between midnight and 6am and 2pm to 4pm.
Ian Paton
Ian has also sent us various documents relating to driving sensibly and can be downloaded here: