Spotlight on tired drivers
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• The problems of tired drivers were highlighted this week as one driver was jailed for falling asleep at the wheel and doctors met to discuss the issue,
The case of Birmingham driver Archibald Scott underlines the dangers of over-tired LGV drivers who drive their vehicles on monotonous motorways.
Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Scott had fallen asleep for a four-mile stretch of the MG near Walsall despite the efforts of police to wake him with their sirens and flashing lights.
Scott received a four-month jail sentence and a four-year ban for dangerous driving with excess alcohol.
The Royal College of Physicians seminar discussed the effect of sleeping disorders on driving—the newly discovered condition steep apnoea, for example, causes sufferers to wake hundreds of times a night and leaves them extremely tired in the daytime.
The Road Haulage Association's employment affairs manager Rod Jenkins told the doctors that this does not seem to be a great problem among truck drivers.
But the REA says if an operator suspects a driver is suffering from the problem he should suggest the driver sees his GP.