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 Driver
sleepiness is thought to cause at least ten percent of all road accidents
and as many as one in four accidents on motorways and trunk roads. Over
39,000 serious injuries and nearly 3,500 deaths occurred on roads in the
UK last year, according to DTLR statistics. Drowsiness is now considered
to be a major cause; the killer claiming more lives than alcohol.
Pictured is a particularly bad motorway crash in which seven people
died in a minibus. It is almost certain that the driver was asleep, as
the vehicle was seen to bounce on and off the central barrier a few times
before eventually crashing.
Falling asleep at the wheel is preceded by feelings of increasing sleepiness
that drivers are aware of, but often ignore. They will wind down the window,
turn up the radio, stretch etc, but drive on. The alarming fact is that
if your body decides to sleep, it will sleep and there is nothing you
can do about it. You may prevent it for a while, but sleep you will.
Microsleeps
Driving fatique often manifests itself in 'microsleeps' - seven, ten,
fifteen second periods when you are asleep. Something jolts us out of
a microsleep - a sudden noise, a change in temperature or physical position
- but during those seconds we are completely asleep. At 50 miles an hour,
you can cover an awful lot of ground in ten seconds. Just close your eyes
and count 'one banana, two banana' up to ten, and imagine travelling at
fifty at that time. It's frightening and all too common.
 What
can be done?
Driving fatigue is the reason the Lighthouse Run is has no solo entrants.
Sharing the driving is obviously the best solution, but there is a downside:
both drivers will very probably go through periods of drowsiness at about
the same time. However, the act of pulling over, getting out and swapping
seats is in itself helpful. The rule however, is that if you're tired
- take a break. There is absolutely no advantage attached to time - only
mileage. You are, of course, more likely to make navigational errors if
you're tired.
High energy drinks such as Redbull help delay fatigue for up to 90 minutes.
A second Redbull however, has little effect.
Strongly flavoured gum such as Airwaves is really good because it is impossible
to doze off if your mouth is undergoing a mint/menthol attack! This works
to stave off fatigue, but only in the very short term.
Take a 15-20 minute break every couple of hours. The ideal regime is:
Driver one at the wheel for two hours, fifteen minute break, driver two
for two hours, break - and so on.
Sharing the driving, sharing the navigation, using the CB (if you take
one, which we recommend) keeping an eye out to answer the questions -
all this should help keep fatigue at bay.
The message is:
be aware of the risks and don't underestimate the dangers.
Picture: The selby
rail crash, caused by driving fatique when a Land Rover and trailer left
the road.
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