What is driver fatigue? Fatigue is a general term commonly used to described term commonly used to describe the experience of being “sleepy”, ”tired”, or “exhausted”.

You are driving down the highway and your eyelids start to droop. Road  signs become a bit blurry. Fatigue is taking hold. You turn on the radio, roll down the window or may be even sing loudly to yourself in an attempt to stay awake. Your goal is just to log in a few more kilometers or hours. But what you may make not know is that this sleepiness , often referred to as driver fatigue can be deadly. Fatigue is both physiological and psychological experience and driver fatigue can severely impair judgment and can affect  anyone. More awareness campaigns on the dangers of driver fatigue over long and short distance and what is needed to prevent it can help reduce fatalities on the road.

Stop and take a break

To help reduce long distance driver fatigue for both heavy and light vehicle rest areas all along the North-South Highway and other highway  have been built to encourage motorist to stop and take a break. Rest areas have been strategically located along the travel routes. More can be done to reduce the number of road accidents due to driver fatigue. Coordination with the trucking industry, drivers and the Transport Workers Union is necessary to ensure that driver have safe working conditions an are not required to drive excessive hours.

The relevant government agencies ant the heavy vehicle industry can work closely to promote lifestyle improvements among drivers. Programmes such as healthy eating on the road promote  a healthy lifestyle as one steps in reducing driver fatigue incidents.

Driver fatigue can be dangerous because one of the symptoms is decreased ability to judge one his own level of tiredness. Other symptoms vary between drivers, but may include the following:

• Heavy eyelids

• Yawning

• Poor Concentration

• Tired or sore eyes

• Restlessness

• Drowsiness

• Slow reactions

• Boredom

• Feeling irritable

• Missing road signs

• Having difficult in staying in the lane

• Micro sleeps

It is important to note that driver fatigue is not simply a function of the time spent driving but relates to many factors including hours since last slept (hours of wakefulness) and time of day or night.

High Risk Times

High risk times for fatigue related fatal crashes are:

NightTime 10 pm-6 am

Early morning

Afternoon  1 pm – 3 pm

Fatigue –related crashes at these times of the body’s circadian rhythms, which program us to feel sleepy at night when we should be asleep and to a lesser extent in the afternoon hours. Fatal crashes identifying fatigue as a factor are more likely to occur during public and school holiday periods.

Resting when fatigue sets in can help keep you and your family safe on your journey. If a driver is not alert, in a split second a vacation that’s been planned can turn to a tragedy. Below are some tips on how to avoid fatigue – related accidents.

• Get a good night’s sleep before a long trip.

• Share the driving whenever possible

• Avoid long drives after work

• Avoid drinking before driving

• Pull over and stop when drowsiness, discomfort or loss of concentration occurs

• Find out whether any medicine you are taking can affect your driving.

 SLEEP IS THE ONLY CURE

Article contributed by AAM

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