Sleep as a Cause of Accidents
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QNE often hears of accidents the causes of which it is difficult to trace, particularly if the drivers concerned have lost their lives as a result, but we cannot remember having seen brought forward as the direct cause of an accident, the driver having fallen asleep at the wheel. Yet to fall asleep while driving is an occurrence which is far more frequent than may be considered by many. We do not suggest that such sleep is, in the ordinary course, a deep one, but some functions of the brain may be inactive whilst others are working, and we have known of instances of drivers confessing that they have slept for a moment with their eyes open—in most cases, for tunately, without serious results. Such a lapse, even if it be only for the briefest period, may result in a collision or the vehicle running off the road, and it is not always a matter of long hours of driving. Various circumstances can conduce to such a condition, the soothing hum of an engine, the breathing of exhaust gases, tiring of the eyes through heat and glare, the mesmeric effect of the "approaching" road or of objects which are being passed. We have known drivers who could not stand watching the country from a train or even walking by the bank of a swiftly flowing river. That it is possible for a driver even to fall soundly asleep while driving would be admitted by many, although this is usually due to extreme fatigue. We can ourselves remember doing so on a solo motorcycle, with dire results, whilst the Editor of a well-known motoring journal was once involved in a head-on collision with a car, the driver of which admitted that he had fallen asleep. We would strongly advise any, driver who feels any tendency in this direction to get out of his vehicle and walk a short distance, or, at least, endeavour to concentrate his thoughts on driving and not to think of irrelevant matters.