62% of truck drivers admit to falling asleep behind the wheel

At least eight out of ten
heavy vehicle drivers have
sleep interrupted during
their rest periods while 62%
have admitted to nodding
off at the wheel.
Driver fatigue, according
to Ben Bezuidenhout, chief
business development leader
at Drive Risk, may only be
the fifth highest cause of
severe road crashes, but it is
a growing concern that can
no longer be removed.
“What makes fatigue
such a dangerous element
on the road is that it
cannot be identified. It just
happens,” he told delegates
at the recent annual Road
Freight Association (RFA)
conference. “With any
adult behaviour there is
a likelihood linked to a
certain crash but it is near
impossible to do that with
fatigue. It is simply not
possible to know when
someone will fall asleep.”
He said this was further
compounded by the fact that
once fatigue set in the only
cure was sleep.
“We may think we can
deal with it by reducing
speed or switching the radio
on or talking out loud to
someone in the vehicle or
drinking an energy drink.
None of this will cure the
fatigue. We also have no way
of detecting fatigue before a
driver leaves with a vehicle.”
He said in a recent study
involving 2000 heavy
vehicles it was found that in
the past six months at least
8% of these vehicles’ drivers
had fallen asleep at the
wheel – although another
study revealed that 62% of
all truck drivers admitted to
nodding off or having fallen
asleep at the wheel.
“Our study has also
found that fatigue is more
prevalent after 9pm and
occurs most frequently
between 3am and 5am in the
morning,” said Bezuidenhout
who added that research had
found that anyone driving with
less than six hours’ sleep per
day was tripling their chance of
being involved in a crash.
“A driver needs to sleep at
least seven to eight hours a day
to be performing at optimum
level.”
He said ongoing research
into fatigue had shown
that nearly 40 000 injuries
occurred every year due to
fatigue and at least 1500
fatalities.
“What makes fatigue so
dangerous is that someone may
think they are not tired and
then get behind the wheel and
do not even know they have
fallen asleep. Sleep is not a
voluntary activity.”
He said pressure on
companies to deal with
driver fatigue would increase
as fatigue was far more a
company concern than a driver
issue.
“Fatigue risk
management is your
responsibility,” he told
freight operators. “What are
the conditions of work for
your drivers, what is your
fatigue risk plan and how is
it managed, implemented
and adhered to? A human
being can survive three to
four weeks with no food
and three to four days with
no water and shelter, but
only three to four seconds
when driving without
having slept.”