RSA’s ‘stupid advice’ to sleepy drivers

IN her letter (May 3), Nicola-Marie O’Riordan complains about the NRA not being allowed to fund service areas on motorways.

However, they would have made a handsome profit if the land required had been bought by CPO, at minimal cost, together with the land required for the motorway, and then leased or sold to the services (cafes, shops, garages, etc.)

Ms O’Riordan mentions RSA “research” indicating that one in 10 drivers has fallen asleep at the wheel, but this is based on a questionnaire. Drivers may be reluctant to admit it or may have forgotten – this is obviously a gross underestimate.

Drivers are normally unaware of “microsleep” episodes which can last from a fraction of a second to several seconds. During this time, the eyes may remain open and the driver may continue normally or may veer off the road or be unable to respond to events.

The driver may even be unaware if an accident occurs – motorists frequently report “he just appeared from nowhere”, or think they skidded.

There is no way of knowing how many accidents are caused by tiredness and falling asleep at the wheel, but it is certainly far more than those caused by alcohol.

Sleep is the only remedy, but astonishingly, the RSA claims that you should sleep for a “maximum” of 15 minutes. When I questioned this, they even suggested that an alarm be set to avoid exceeding this maximum. This may sometimes suffice, but obviously if you have been up for some time and are really tired, it is necessary to sleep for as long as you need, which is when you awake naturally feeling refreshed, and this may be several hours.

This is a problem that cannot be tackled by stupid and dangerous advice, only by legislation and enforcement, such at tachometers for private cars.

Further, lack of public transport forces people to drive long distances whether they want to or not.

Michael Job

Rossnagrena

Glengarriff

Co Cork