Known to the layman as the result of ‘drowsy driving,’ sleep-related vehicle accidents (SRVAs) is a common type of road crash. They typically involve one vehicle colliding with the rear of another or drifting off the road and hitting other objects. The most dangerous times of day have a symmetry that makes them easy to remember: 2 am-6 am and 2 pm-6 pm, and this ‘time of day factor is said to be just as important as the length of the journey. Working hours, particularly shift work, are important to these incidents. As in crime or illness, the prevention of ‘drowsy driving’ is better (i.e., much less risky) than an attempt to ‘cure’ it once it has started.
Being well-rested before starting a long journey is wise. It is essential to have a proper break from driving every two hours or every 100 miles, whichever comes sooner.
Suppose you do start to feel drowsy while driving. In that case, you can briefly help yourself stay alert by opening windows or boosting the air conditioning, playing music quite loudly, and — if you are only carrying non-driving passengers — telling them that you are tired and that they should keep you alert until you can find the very first safe place to stop.
As soon as you can safely stop, do so. Take a nap. Researchers don’t yet seem to agree on this, but it would seem that twenty minutes is the most highly recommended duration. Any less will be ineffective, and much more can make matters worse (by making you too tired to continue). The best cure is to have a proper sleep of several hours duration.
If you are forced to nap, as above, it is most effective if you also have a caffeine-based drink.
Please check out the links shown below:
- There is some excellent information and advice in an article on Fatigue Road Deaths in Australia
- Also from Australia (where they do much excellent road safety research) is this March 2002 press release: Crash Before You Drive (National Roads and Motorists’ Association — NRMA)
- Statement to the U.S. House of Representatives by Gerald Donaldson, the senior research director for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. Advocates on the need to reform the federal regulation of commercial driver hours of federal. Click here.
- THINK! Driver Tiredness — U.K. Department for Transport
- Before and After: Rumble Strip Effectiveness should be read in co-ordination with ‘Safety Evaluation of Rolled-In Continuous Shoulder Rumble Strips Installed on Freeways’ (from the U.S. Dot Federal Highway Administration, and Highway Safety Information Systems (HSIS)
- Asleep at the Wheel: Who’s At Risk? is an article from the Medical Journal of Australia. (PDF)
- Driver Fatigue is present in one in every six fatal road crashes in Finland. Click here to read the article.