Drowsy Driver Awareness Day

Drowsy Driver Awareness Day

Sunday, 13 December 2015

This year’s New Zealand Drowsy Driver Awareness Day is making drivers aware of the dangers of ‘falling asleep at the wheel’ when travelling to or from their holiday destination.

So, you have had a busy week at work finishing up for the year, you arrive home to get ready to pack to go on holiday, perhaps late into the evening - so that you can get up early to go on holiday by driving to a destination … If this is you, you are likely to be both “sleep deprived” and “physically/mentally” exhausted. In which case, you have a very high risk of either “falling asleep at the wheel” or having an “inattention’ serious or fatal crash. Remember also that the more sleep deprived that you become, the more inattentive your become!

“Micro-sleeps” occur when one is “sleep deprived”. You will not know when they are going to occur. A micro-sleep is a brief sleep episode that lasts between 3 – 10 seconds. Sleep deprivation occurs as a result of poor quality sleep, loss of one or more night’s sleep, sleep debt build up, or an untreated sleep medical disorder. In a 3 second micro-sleep a vehicle travelling at 100 km/hr, travels 83 metres (almost the length of a Rugby field !) and well and truly across the centreline of the road. Drowsy driving is often called the ‘silent killer’ and is responsible for most of the crashes that occur when a vehicle crosses the centreline.

Drowsy driving crashes are underreported in New Zealand, but road safety experts accept that drowsy driving is a factor in over 20% of crashes.

The AKILLA drowsy driving educational campaign was set up to educate New Zealanders about the dangers of drowsy driving. The campaign was officially launched on May 31st 2005.

Now, as for returning home - assuming that you had a great holiday, great care needs to be taken on your return journey to home. No doubt you have met lots of people, seen lots of sights, had lots of late nights, had lots of fun…You are likely to be both sleep deprived and physically/mentally exhausted.

Plan for a good night’s sleep before you drive home !

Drowsy driving crashes can happen at any stage of a journey, however take particular care on the last stage of the journey (eg; last half hour from home – when you are nearly there) Also known as ‘Get-Home-it is’). This is a very common drowsy driving crash location !

When you are on your journey, make sure that you have plenty of breaks, but if you experience any drowsy driving warning signs (eg; constant blinking, eyes blinking, head nodding, lost memory over the last few kilometres..) take IMMEDIATE action (eg; swap drivers, take a 15 minute Powernap, phone for family or friend to collect you, take alternative transport home).

If you are returning home from an overseas flight, DO NOT try to ‘drive to your home destination’ before sleeping overnight at some form of accommodation. You will be very “sleep deprived”, even though you may not be conscious of it. There have been many fatal drowsy driving crashes from this set of events - as a direct result of ‘Jet-lag’.

Visit the App – PowernAP – ‘Your guide to get to your destination safely’ on Google Play / I-Phone or Windows – type AKILLA into the search bar for more information.

Campaign website – www.akilla.co.nz

Happy Christmas and safe driving !

ENDS

© Scoop Media