According to research done by Loughborough University commissioned by DfT in 2004, one quarter of all road collisions that cause death or serious injury are sleep related.

In order to drive your car you should be alert, able to concentrate and aware of everything that is going on around you. Tiredness reduces your ability to be able to react in the appropriate time, and however fast you believe you can react in reality it is probably a lot slower. Driving for long periods or driving tired also increases your risk of falling asleep at the wheel and causing a serious or fatal accident.

Business Drivers are at greatest risk, unsurprisingly as long shifts spent driving are very tiring. It has been proven that driving for long periods on motorways or dual carriageways can also cause collisions. This is because it is easier to fall asleep on tedious roads like this rather than roads that require much more attention e.g. rural roads. This should not be the case but unfortunately it is.

For businesses that use vehicles for work, the corporate manslaughter act 2007 means that the employer is responsible for enuring safety on the road. The law sets out a new offence for convicting an organisation where a gross failure in the way activities were managed or organised results in a persons death.

For more information please visit:

www.safermotoring.co.uk

www.rac.co.uk

www.nationalschool.gov.uk