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iii In September 2000 lorry driver Paul Couldridge fell
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asleep at the wheel, swerved across three lanes of the M20 crossing the central reservation and ploughed into a car, killing a young couple, Sheila Ryan and Stephen Williams.
In May 1995 Charlie Mitchell, 20, died when a lorry hit his moped from behind. The lorry driver had driven 600 miles in fourteen and three-quarter hours without taking breaks. He fell asleep at the wheel.
How many more people need to be killed before we sit up and take notice and realise just how dangerous driving tired realty is? Despite high profile cases such as these, and the Selby rail disaster— the most high profile of them all—driver tiredness is still a big problem.
The truth is, it is frighteningly common for drivers to fall asleep at the wheel. Researchers estimate that tired drivers cause about 20% of crashes on monotonous roads like motorways and 10% of crashes elsewhere. Crashes caused by drivers who fall asleep at the wheel are more likely to result in death or serious injury than crashes from other causes, as a sleeping driver will fail to brake and is likely to crash at high speed. This can be particularly devastating if the driver is at the wheel of a truck, due to its size and weight.
So we know that tired driving is dangerous, but who and how many of us drive when tired? The Brake/Green Flag report on safe driving 2000, based on a survey of 1,000 drivers, found that six out of 10 drivers admitted to driving when tired. An alarming one in seven said that they had actually fallen asleep at the wheel.
Professional drivers and company car drivers are particularly a risk while driving because of the high mileage and long hours they spend behind the wheel. The Green Flag report found that drivers who drive 40,000 miles or more per year were more likely to risk driving when tired and were more likely to admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel, with 80% of high mileage drivers saying they has driven when tired (compared to 60% of all drivers) and 35% saying they have fallen asleep while driving (compared to 14% of all drivers:
What can be done? Firstly, employers need to ensure they conic with their "duty of care" to ensure that all workers who drive as par of their job do so when fully alert. Companies need a policy to preve and monitor tiredness which should include:
IIII Educating workers about the dangers of fatigue behind the wheel using up-to-date research, leaflets, posters and driver handbooks;
• Preparing schedules to reduce fatigue. For example, careful rout planning to help complete journeys in the minimum possible time.
• Monitoring the hours drivers spend on the road and the breaks at rest periods they take—and checking they comply with the law.
Secondly, drivers should listen to advice from researchers at th Loughborough Sleep Research Laboratory who conclude that in order to avoid falling asleep at the wheel, drivers should: stop drivin as soon as they feel tired; drink 500m1 of a caffeinated drink such as an energy drinker strong coffee; take a short nap or break for 15 minutes; and only continue driving if they are not feeling tired.
Thirdly, the government needs to introduce more high profile education campaigns on driver tiredness. In 2002-3 ft is spending jut £500,000 on publicity to promote the dangers of driving when tired which is just 5.4% of its road safety publicity budget.
Fourthly, the government should make sure that all roads have adequate crash barriers where they cross other roads or rail lines I