Driver Fatigue and Road Accidents
Introduction
Driver fatigue is a serious problem resulting in many thousands of road accidents each year. It is not currently possible to calculate the exact number of sleep related accidents because of the difficulty in detecting whether fatigue was a factor. However, research shows that up to 20% of accidents on monotonous roads, such as motorways, in Great Britain are fatigue related. Research in other countries also indicates that fatigue is a serious problem.
Sleepiness reduces reaction time (a critical element of safe driving). It also reduces vigilance, alertness and concentration so that the ability to perform attention-based activities (such as driving) is impaired. The speed at which information is processed is also reduced by sleepiness. The quality of decision-making may also be affected.
It is clear that drivers are aware when they are feeling sleepy, and so make a conscious decision about whether to continue driving or to stop for a rest. It may be that those who persist in driving underestimate the risk of actually falling asleep while driving. Or it may be that some drivers choose to ignore the risks (in the way that drink drivers do).
Drivers most at risk
Young male drivers, truck drivers, company car drivers and shift workers are most at risk of falling asleep while driving. However, any driver travelling long distances or when they are tired, is at risk of a sleep related accident.
Time of Day
The early hours of the morning and the middle of the afternoon are the peak times for fatigue accidents, and long journeys on monotonous roads, particularly motorways, are the most likely to result in a driver falling asleep.
Type of Accident
Sleep related accidents tend to be more severe, possibly because of the higher speeds involved and because the driver is unable to take any avoiding action, or even brake, prior to collision.
Evidence
There are difficulties in determining the level of sleep related accidents because there is no simple, reliable way for an investigating police officer to determine whether fatigue was a factor in an accident. This results in varying estimates of the level of sleep related accidents.
A recent study by the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University indicates that driver fatigue causes up to 20% of accidents on monotonous roads. This suggests that there are several thousand casualties each year in accidents caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel.
A study of road accidents between 1987 -1992 found that sleep related accidents comprised 16% of all road accidents, and 23% of accidents on motorways. Research by the TRL found slightly lower proportions of sleep related accidents: 9%-10% of accidents on all roads, and 15% of accidents on motorways involved driver sleepiness. In this study, 29% of drivers reported having felt close to falling asleep at the wheel at least once in the previous twelve months.
The Law
It is not a specific offence to drive when tired, however a driver is more likely to commit a driving offence whilst tired. This may be as significant as causing death by dangerous driving and there has recently been a successful conviction of a driver who fell asleep at the wheel.
The Highway Code gives the following advice:-
80. Driving when you are tired greatly increases your accident risk. To minimise this risk
- Make sure you are fit to drive. Do not undertake a long journey (longer than an hour) if you feel tired.
- Avoid undertaking long journeys between midnight and 6am, when natural alertness is at a minimum
- Plan your journey to take sufficient breaks. A minimum break of at least 15 minutes after every two hours of driving in recommended
- If you feel sleepy, stop in a safe place. Do not stop on the hard shoulder of a motorway
- The most effective ways to counter sleepiness are to take a short nap (up to 15 minutes) or drink, for example, two cups of strong coffee. Fresh air, exercise or turning up the radio may help for a short time, but are not as effective.
Employers
It is clear that many types of vocational drivers have driving patterns that are associated with sleep related accidents. Therefore, employers have a vital role to play in managing the risks involved in their employees who drive for work purposes. As part of their health and safety policies and practices, employers should adopt and implement the principles of managing occupational road risk, with particular reference to reducing the risk of their employees being involved in a sleep related driving accident.
Principally, employers should:
- Manage the safety of their employees who drive
- Consider and implement the most suitable system of risk assessment and re-assessment for the road safety needs of the company and its employees
- Choose the right vehicle and the safest specification for the needs of the job
- Ensure that work practices, journey schedules, appointments and routes enable drivers to stay within the law
- Provide sensible guidelines about driving and for the use of the vehicles for all employees who may drive for the company.
Holiday and Travel Companies
One of the times when individual drivers may drive in the early hours of the morning is when they are catching, or returning from, an early flight or ship/ferry journey. Drivers returning from long haul flights, or coming off ships and ferries also often drive home after having had very little sleep in the previous 24 hours. Holiday companies, airlines and shipping lines should consider what advice and information they could offer to their customers, particularly as they sell alcohol to their passengers, which exacerbates the risk.
Enforcement and Roadside Testing
It can be difficult for the Police to detect a fatigue-impaired driver. However, some Police Forces are currently trialling general impairment roadside tests, which may prove effective in detecting sleepy drivers, as well as drivers affected by alcohol, drugs or medicines.
Drivers Hours
The regulation and enforcement of driver hours rules is obviously important. However, these rules do not cover many drivers who drive for work (e.g. company car drivers) and who do very high mileages. Even some of those drivers and operators who are governed by the Rules, sometimes find way of circumventing them. It would be difficult to include non-vocational drivers within the regulations because their vehicles are not currently required to have tachographs.
However, it may be that technological advancements in the long term would enable motor vehicles (with a few exemptions) to have some form of system that records and maintains a record of an individual’s driving hours, no matter what vehicle they are driving. Whether this would be publicly or politically acceptable is another issue. In the meanwhile, guidance could be developed for employers on drivers’ hours that mirrored the existing regulations.
Fatigue Detection and Warning Devices
Technical devices to detect when drivers are feeling sleepy and provide warnings to them, or even to take control of the vehicle, are being researched and developed. Such devices may prove beneficial, but there are concerns that drivers would rely on them instead of managing themselves for safety.
Combating Driver Fatigue
Most of the things that drivers do to try to keep themselves awake and alert when driving are ineffective, and should only be regarded as emergency measures to allow the driver time to find somewhere safe to stop. Drinking at least 150 mg of caffeine and taking a nap of around 15 minutes are the only measures that help to reduce sleepiness. But even these are temporary measures; sleepiness will return if the driver does not stop driving within a fairly short period of time.
The safest option is for drivers to avoid driving when sleepy, when they would normally be sleeping or when they are ill or taking medication which contra-indicates driving or using machinery. It is crucial that drivers plan journeys, especially long ones involving driving on motorways or other monotonous roads. Drivers should:
- Try to ensure they are well rested, and feeling fit and healthy (and not taking medication which contra-indicates using machinery), before starting long journeys
- Plan the journey to include regular rest breaks (at least 15 minutes at least every two hours)
- If necessary, plan an overnight stop
- Avoid setting out on a long drive after having worked a full day
- Avoid driving into the period when they would normally be falling asleep
- Avoid driving in the small hours (between 2am and 6am)
- Be extra careful when driving between 2pm and 4pm (especially after having eaten a meal or drunk any alcohol)
- If feeling sleepy during a journey, stop somewhere safe, take drinks containing caffeine and take a short nap.
Click here for a free ‘ Safer Journey Planner ’ leaflet.
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