Driver fatigue

By Colin Windell

Almost every driver has experienced that horrible feeling of heavy eyes and the sudden nod that comes with on the road fatigue – but it can be deadly.

For at work drivers, fatigue is far too common as deadline pressures keep them on the road longer and later every day with very little actually done by either drivers or employers to combat this massive risk to life and limb.

Research from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shows more than 30% of American workers aged 30-64 are short of sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends healthy adults sleep seven to nine hours per day, but a recent survey found 30% of civilian-employed adults (approximately 40,6-million workers) reported average sleep duration of six hours or less a day. It is not known precisely where the truck driver population sits in terms actual hours of sleep per day, but it is probably statistically similar, if not worse.

Auto Trader could not find any relevant statistics for South Africa, but we would estimate the same if not quite a lot worse than those of the USA, where driving hours and the like are far more stringently enforced.

However, the way to approach fatigue management is in terms of health, diet, exercise, lifestyle and conscientious self-management; not externally imposed rules.

One problem fleets and drivers face with fatigue is a lack of fatigue management education. So money, effort and time for proper fatigue management education for drivers may take a back seat to other ‘more pressing’ company needs – until a fatal crash occurs.

While it is natural to assume drivers will do their best to get a good rest during off duty hours, it is a simple fact not everyone can sleep at a given time of the day. Equally, family or work issues and other worries  can interfere with a restful sleep – to say nothing of some physical or mental problem that is either undiagnosed or untreated.

Obviously, noisy parking lots or sleeping in a dangerous area can affect the quality of sleep.

Short sleep leads inexorably to drowsy driving. The real problem is not that the driver did not get enough rest, but failing to recognise that likelihood and to build a little slack into the plan to account for it.

Some people have no difficulty staying alert all day long, whereas others can really benefit from a mid-day nap. It all depends on their individual patterns of sleep and wakefulness and their susceptibility to drowsiness.

The top four predictors of individual sleepiness are:

* individual susceptibility

* the previous amount of sleep

* time of day

* elapsed time since the previous sleep.

Driving at night can be challenging because of the body’s biologically hardwired tendency to sleep when it is dark.

Drivers taught to recognise the hazards of a poor night sleep could take steps to mitigate the shortfall by napping during the day or requesting a lighter dispatch. Fleets that embrace a fatigue management approach would be likely to accommodate such a driver.

Grabbing a quick nap during a driving shift is a good way to restore alertness. Scheduling should allow drivers time to nap.

Driver-facing cameras could be useful when used properly, but they can pose a dilemma: What do you do when drivers have an asleep-at-the-wheel event or even a nodding-off moment?

The right approach for forward-looking fleets is to investigate what happened. “Can we rule out a medical condition such as OSA? A test might be required. Was it a scheduling issue? Was the driver having difficulty getting his needed rest? Were there issues at home that prevented proper sleep? Has this sort of thing happened before and what was the driver’s response that time?”

Drivers need to know about the effects of short sleeps and how that can affect their alertness later in the day. You have to teach drivers this stuff.

Many drivers, especially the older ones, treat these problems as just part of the job, the way it has always been. That is not the right way to look at it anymore. The company can be supportive of the problems drivers may be having and some willingness to try to solve them can lead to safer, healthier and happier drivers.