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There’s a real danger, and you’ll have to forgive the pun here, that we’re sleepwalking into something of a crisis of driver fatigue. Deirdre Sinnott, an expert on the subject at the Health And Safety Authority (HSA) says that the ‘always-on’ culture is giving us an epidemic of people (not just drivers) who actually aren’t sleeping enough.
“A lot of people don’t understand that you need at least minimum six hours sleep per night continuously, and if you don’t get at least six hours sleep per night, you’re in a deficit, and the deficit just continues to build, and it has serious health impact” said Sinnott when I had a chat with her about the subject of driving when sleepy or fatigued.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) quotes a study undertaken in 2021 by the European Union Road Safety Observatory which found that “between 20 to 25% of the car drivers indicated that, during the last month, they had driven at least once while they were so sleepy that they had trouble keeping their eyes open.”
The RSA’s own numbers for Ireland make for equally scary reading. According to a research study undertaken by the RSA’s research manager, Velma Burns, and published in May of this year, 22% of all drivers, and 27% of drivers ‘driving for work’ answered ‘yes’ to the question: “Have you ever fallen asleep or nodded off (even if for only a brief moment) while driving?”
That’s a scary pair of figures, and it’s made worse by the fact that this is based on self-reporting — imagine what the numbers would be like if (a) all drivers were equally honest and (b) all drivers actually realised when they’ve suffered one of these ‘micro sleep’ nod-offs behind the wheel. Many might have such an episode and not know it…
Equally 21% of drivers said that they have continued to drive when they feel tired, and that this is often a response to the pressure of work — according to the RSA; “46% of those who drive for work feel pressure from their employers or schedule to do at least one of the listed behaviours according to the RSA’s research, which include exceeding the speed limit to make an appointment; continuing to drive when they feel tired; answer a hand-held mobile phone call; or respond to a message or an email.”
How many of us drive for work? Officially, it’s 25% of all drivers, with the majority of those driving cars, rather than vans. That’s a statistic which illustrates the fact that many drivers, and their employers, don’t realise when, specifically, driving counts as part of work, and what the legal implications of that might be. While ‘driving for work’ doesn’t usually involve the commute to and from the office, for example, it can include an employee driving directly from home to an off-site meeting with a client, and with working from home now the norm, the grey areas are extending outwards.
Obviously, anyone getting behind the wheel takes the primary responsibility for their safety and the safety of those around them, but it’s also a good idea for companies and fleet operators to ensure a culture of inclusive safety — to generate a sense that safety isn’t some box you just tick that shows you’ve attended a lecture or done some online training, but that it’s something you work into your driving every day.
The problem, as acknowledged by many experts, is that ‘safety isn’t sexy.’ That’s true (although heaven knows, Volvos are pretty desirable cars and nothing is more safe…) but neither is, say, safe material handling or sensible on-site working practices, and many of us will work closely with those regulations every day.
Driving, though? As three-time Formula One world champion — and passionate safety and driver training advocate — Sir Jackie Stewart so memorably said, there are two places where you can’t question a man’s talents, and one of those is behind the wheel…
We have to question it, though, especially to ourselves (when taking personal responsibility) and at a corporate level. The advice from both the HSA and the RSA is to develop a proper ‘driving for work’ policy and culture within the company, so that everyone feels they can contribute to the ideal.
The EU’s RSO estimates that driver fatigue is a contributory factor in 15 to 20% of serious road traffic collisions, and analysis shows that you’re 29% more likely to have an accident when you’re over-tired. Over the years, we’ve managed to make drink-driving deeply unfashionable, and we’re starting to do the same with excessive speeding.
Let’s try and do the same with driving when exhausted too, eh?