One-in-five road deaths blamed on driver fatigue

TIRED drivers are to blame for one-in-five deaths on the roads with 61 fatalities caused by sleeplessness so far this year.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) revealed the grim toll yesterday as it unveiled its winter campaign to coincide with the approach of the October bank holiday.

“Driving when very tired is as dangerous as driving while over the drink-drive limit,” said RSA chief executive Noel Brett.

“This silent killer could have been a contributory factor in almost 200 driver deaths in a recent five year period.”

Research into the human “body clock” shows accidents caused by tiredness are most likely to happen from 2am to 6am and between 2pm and 4pm daily.

Now the RSA will be broadcasting radio advertisements during the crucial times of danger and putting up posters at petrol stations to get the message across to tired drivers.

Included in the radio ads will be a testimony from Charlie Mitchell, whose 27-year-old brother Francis Mitchell died in an accident near his home in Graystones, Co Wicklow, earlier this year.

Charlie said: “Fran worked shifts as a psychiatric nurse in Dublin and even in normal hours it’s an hour commuting after a long shift.

“(On the day of the accident) he rang to say he would be late and the next thing we knew the guards were at my parents’ house, saying Fran had been in a serious accident.

“Afterwards we found out that he had died instantly and the emergency services said everything led them to believe he was asleep at the time and would not have known anything.”

Drivers most at risk of being involved in fatigue-related crash are those who try to fight the effects of sleep while driving.

Such motorists eventually drift in and out of consciousness and experience “micro sleeps” of up to 10 seconds, the RSA said.

“In this time a driver has no control of the vehicle — and drivers can even experience such a ‘micro sleep’ with their eyes wide open.

“If a driver has a ‘micro sleep’ for just four seconds while travelling at a speed of 100 km/h the car will have travelled 111 metres without a driver in control,” said Mr Brett.

Males aged 18 to 30 are in the high risk category as they tend to be over-confident about their driving ability while women are less likely to be involved in sleep-related crashes.

Drivers who are feeling tired are recommended to stop, drink two cups of coffee, sleep for 15 minutes and go for a walk before setting out again.

“But with sleep deprivation, the only cure for a lack of sleep is sleep.

“Tactics such as turning up the volume on the radio and opening the window do not work,” added Mr Brett.

The Garda Síochána yesterday confirmed the traffic corps will be putting up speed traps and drink-drive checkpoints during their bank holiday campaign.