Know-how 14: Deadly day-dreams
Page 48
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QUITE apart from the accidents that result directly from weather conditions, speed, drink, or just plain cussedness and reckless driving, there is one other cause of a greater number of incidents than realized and one which is rarely mentioned by those who have suffered and survived.
Nevertheless it is a real menace indeed, although a most difficult subject to broach to drivers. I refer now to falling asleep at the wheel, either night or day. And much worse than the actual few seconds of "dropping off" can be the several dangerous miles of semi-dozing, during which time the driver is handling his vehicle mechanically and subconsciously, and is in no condition at all to deal with an emergency stop, take evasive action, or correctly respond to road signs.
Every main road, particularly trunk roads, clearways and motorways, show countless signs of deviation from the solid to the soft, with no skid marks or other features to indicate a reason for the excursion. And it only needs a nearside front wheel to touch the grass verge to drag the wheel out of the unsuspecting driver's hands and ditch him, heavily or otherwise.
Any fleet engineer with high-mileage vehicles in his care will have his quota of accidents to investigate, repair and record in one of at least three categories: a collision with two parties equally blameworthy; a miscalculation where a third party or his property is injured or damaged; and where snow, fog or ice has caught the driver out and brought him to an expensive halt.
As a rule, these three can be identified with a given cause and there is no doubt or mystery. However, in any claims file or engineer's record, there is always a number of incidents large and small that can never be quite satisfactorily cleared up—if that is the right phrase, as there is little satisfactory about accidents.
Nevertheless, the engineer is duty-bound to find an answer that makes sense, one which will if possible offer him a lead for future use and driver guidance. So in his records will be incidents that can only point to the driver closing his eyes long enough for something to catch him unawares.
Over the past 18 months.! have discussed this problem with a number of men who were prepared to talk—night and day heavyvehicle drivers, doctors, and two wartime pilots.
All agree on one point: that it is possible to handle a car, vehicle or aircraft for minutes at a time in a subconscious state, verging on sleep—particularly so where the driver or pilot is really proficient—and not really go far wrong in the early stage.
Yet at the same time the person himself is partly aware of his condition and is mentally struggling to keep alert, very often being jerked back to full awareness by some obvious deviation from his true path.
The danger is that he may struggle on in this condition, succumb to sleep and lose control. This condition can come upon a person in broad daylight after a meal just as well as in the early hours after some 2 a.m. stop for a warm drink.
It is more likely to occur on trunk roads and motorways than on less straight roads where there is enough to do to keep the person occupied. And in this day of super cab heating it is all too easy to become drowsy on a big road.
Drivers are less inclined to get a full night's sleep nowadays, and the wish to stay up and see some late television programme is well known; but it can carve seriously into the off-duty period, often cutting true sleep down to five or six hours maximum, when doctors emphasize the need for a minimum of eight hours prior to a ten-hour driving shift.
Climbing straight into the cab after a heavy meal, whether day or night, is likely to promote drowsiness in the following one or two hours. Some small amount of exercise and fresh air is recommended prior to starting the journey.
Knowledgeable drivers on regular long trips who are aware of the first signs of drowsiness, will at once create some discomfort—open a window or cut out the heater—until they can safely stop and get out.
One man, who has ten years of trunking experience, always keeps a bottle of lemonade by him, and as the drowsy boredom begins to show he will take a swig. This, he states, produces enough internal activity to get him past the danger point—which appears to last up to one hour.
A daytime driver who admits suffering considerably from mid-afternoon drowsiness, particularly on bright days, carries three pairs of sunglasses of varying density. These, he states, give him a relaxing change, permitting him to keep his eyes fully open comfortably, which has a great bearing on alertness.
A great danger arising from this daytime drowsiness—and many drivers will confirm this—is the unconscious act of moving up too close to the vehicle ahead. It seems as though this helps the man behind to stay on course, but it is dangerous and the cause of many accidents.
This problem affects different people in different ways. A loud radio may keep one man wide awake, but put another to sleep. And little can be done as a cure other than to ask each driver to consider the problem honestly as it affects him, and in his own interests make a positive move to lay on his own safeguard, with some of our tried methods in mind.