Driving when tired is as dangerous as driving when over the alcohol limit, says the RSA. Theresa Judgereports
Increasing motorists' awareness of the dangers of driving when tired is now a priority for the Road Safety Authority (RSA) as international evidence suggests that driver fatigue is a factor in some 20 per cent of all road fatalities.
The RSA says that all except one of its bank holiday weekend road safety campaigns this year will focus on driver fatigue because of the urgent need to raise awareness of the risks people are taking.
"We need to tell people that driver fatigue, driving when tired, is as dangerous as driving over the alcohol limit," says RSA spokesman Brian Farrell.
He says the "hectic, deadline-driven lifestyle" that more and more people are living is probably affecting the way people drive.
"The people who are most at risk are those who work shifts or do night-work as they tend to have disturbed sleep patterns," he says.
Truck drivers have been found to be particularly at risk, because of the hours they work, and a tendency to have a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle puts them at risk of weight problems and sleep disorders, such as sleep apnoea.
Farrell says the RSA has had an initial meeting with employers body Ibec to raise the issue of the hazards of driver fatigue for employees who drive as part of their job.
"Every employer is supposed to do a risk assessment for each employee and I wonder how many employers consider road safety as part of that assessment," he adds.
Further meetings with Ibec are planned and the RSA is developing a template for employers to help them ensure they are reminding employees of the driving-related risks they need to be aware of, he says.
Meanwhile, the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), which is responsible for workplace safety, has confirmed it is examining the issue of driver safety and will be carrying out 500 inspections this year. In the past, HSA inspections of vehicles focused on the carriage of dangerous goods, but a spokesman says the scope of its vehicle-related inspections is to be widened.
He says the authority is currently conducting research to assess the number of accidents involving drivers while working and is examining the role it could play in collaboration with the RSA and the Garda.
"If you drive as part of your job, then your vehicle is your workplace so we believe there may be a role for us."
He says HSA inspectors will be looking at a range of issues relevant to the safety of employees/drivers and that the authority has been told by a number of sources that "accidents may be happening as a result of people being under stress".
He adds that any employee who believes that their health is at risk from their workplace, and that could include driving for very long hours, has a right to make a complaint to the HSA.
The RSA is responsible for enforcing the law which limits the number of hours truck drivers can spend at the wheel. However, there are no legal limits on the time people can spend driving cars.
Farrell says driver fatigue is a priority for the authority this year because there was more and more information suggesting it was a major factor in road crashes. "Our first priority is to make people aware - I don't think people realise just how serious an issue it is," he says. Farrell also stresses that the effect of a very small quantity of alcohol - which would not be enough to put you over the drink-driving limit - can be doubled by tiredness.
RSA efforts to raise awareness of the dangers of driver fatigue will include radio campaigns and promotions at filling stations giving drivers free caffeine or high-energy drinks.
The advice to people who find themselves getting sleepy while driving is to stop immediately, take a caffeine drink, nap for 15-20 minutes and take a short walk before resuming. The effect of the caffeine should have kicked in after 20-30 minutes. It is stressed that opening a window or turning on the radio has no effect and will not stop a driver from nodding off.
Falling asleep while driving is a gradual process and those most at risk are those who try to fight it.
Farrell also emphasises that these measures "are not a remedy for a chronic lack of sleep" because the only remedy for this is to catch up on lost sleep.
A study in Ireland in 2006 found that people in certain jobs were more prone to sleep deprivation. These included doctors, company directors, shift workers, nurses and taxi drivers and many people said work-related stress was a factor in their poor quality sleep.
International experts, such as Prof Jim Horne of Loughborough University who has advised the RSA, say most driver fatigue-related collisions occur between 2am-6am and 2pm-4pm.
Alcohol is twice as potent during these hours because people are more likely to be tired. Males aged 18-30 are most at risk because they tend to be over confident about their driving ability.
Dr Catherine Crowe, a specialist in sleep disorders at the Mater private hospital in Dublin, says that people need to be aware that our circadian rhythms are powerful and dictate whether our bodies are on "sleep mode".
She says it is like a master clock sending out signals to many different parts of the body affecting body temperature and hormone levels.
"If you are awake when you are normally asleep, for example at six in the morning, then your body temperature will be lower and your level of alertness will be lower," she says. If a person is then in a monotonous situation, such as driving, they are particularly prone to falling asleep, she adds.
Crowe says that when body temperature is low, general task performance will be poorer. This includes performance on both manual and mental tasks. Body temperature is lowest at 4am-5am.
"If you are driving at 5am you will not be as skilled as you are at other times," she says. The big mistake drivers make when they get sleepy is to persist, thinking that they are nearly home or that they will be okay.
She believes people's sleep patterns have changed in Ireland over the past 10 years and that longer commuting times are a factor. "What I notice is that people are getting up earlier - many people are now getting up at 6.30am - but they are not necessarily going to bed earlier," she says.
Crowe says people generally need between seven and seven-and-a-half hours sleep a night but that the quality of sleep - in the case of a disorder such as sleep apnoea or when sleep is disturbed by having to get up in the night to attend to children - has to be considered.
Ibec health and safety officer Tony Briscoe says he does not believe that working conditions are contributing to workers' general fatigue levels.
"People now generally have reasonable conditions and reasonable breaks," he says.
He points to EU directives relating to working hours and regulations governing visual display unit (VDU) usage. "The amount of time that people spend at work is not in itself a problem. There is also a question of the intensity of the work, but I think commuting is probably more of an issue for people now than the work itself," he adds.