Woman driving at sunset

Did you know?

  • Being awake for about 17 hours has a similar effect on performance as having a blood alcohol content of 0.051.
  • Fatigue-related crashes are often severe (because you can’t brake when you are not conscious) and frequently occur when the driver is alone.
  • Most sleep-related vehicle crashes happen between 2am and 6am, and between 2pm and 4pm2.
  • Fatigue is not only an issue on long trips. Any driver can suffer tiredness, even on short trips. Over 50% of fatigue-related crashes happen within 25km of the departure point3.

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Why driving when tired is dangerous

Fatigue is one of the top five factors contributing to road crashes. So plan to rest at least 15 minutes every 2 hours.

Caffeine is only a temporary solution. Turning up the radio won’t help for long, neither will winding down the window. The only fix for being tired is sleep so rest before you hit the road.

References

1. Williamson, A. M. and Feyer, A. M. (2000). ‘Moderate sleep deprivation produces impairments in cognitive and motor performance equivalent to legally prescribed levels of alcohol intoxication.’ Occupational and Environmental Medicine 57(10): 649-655.

2. Horne, J. A. and Reyner, L.A. (1995) ‘Sleep related vehicle accidents.’ BMJ 310(6979): 565-567

3. Department of Transport and Main Roads QLD. (2015). ‘Analysis of the distance from origin of journey to crash location for fatigued drivers’ (Rqc20238), unpublished.