FATIGUE

(Biggest Killer)

This page applies equally to all, irrespective as to whether they are car drivers or driving a truck.

Welcome to another of my dissertations about road safety. As you may guess, this is one topic that I tend to get up on my soap box from time to time.

The reasons are simple.

I nearly killed myself in a crash many years ago when I was about 20 and a damned sight less experienced.
Too many of my mates have driven their last mile because they were brought undone by them- selves or (more often than not) by some mug who didn't know what they were doing.

Many years ago I rolled a truck over, killing about 250 sheep that were in the stock crate I was towing, and very nearly buying my own ticket to the Promised Land!!

The final responsibility of your own life, and that of the general public rests with you, the driver!

Please accept a few tips from somebody who knows what it is like to taste mud and grass and bitumen and to have the fear of God when he was trapped by the feet and the whole unit caught fire!
Please listen from one who had his nose completely severed from his face.
Harken to the voice of one who was foolish and damn near paid the ultimate price!
I am here to tell you that there is a very fine line between being not so fresh and having a crash.
Many people have thought that they are okay, only to wake up tasting the sweet taste of their own blood! That's if they are lucky!
More often than not, they've killed some poor innocent bugger coming the other way, or worse yet, maimed and mangled with members of their own family either dead or badly disfigured and/or incapacitated.

We've all seen the "Stop! Revive! Survive!" advertisements on television and in the press. They are not joking!

It is my view that death is a pretty hard way to find out that you should have stopped in that last parking bay you passed.

The only trouble is that these adds don't go half far enough. They say to stop every couple of hours! I say that even a couple of hours may be too far, depending on how fresh you were when you sat behind the wheel.

I don't mean driver fresh (as in not driven) but whether or not you had a day in the office, how much sleep you had the night before, whether the kids have been harassing you this morning .... that sort of thing.

Fatigue is a devil that hides in many forms!

What are the signs of fatigue?

Are you getting a little stiff and sore?
Are you uncomfortable in your seat?
Do your eyes hurt from the glare?
Have you just had a "little" yawn?
Is your concentration not quite up to what it normally is?

Don't say to yourself, "I'm a little bushed, but I'll be okay".

That could be the last thing that you do say!

If you're experiencing any of the symptoms above, pull over, stop and get out of the vehicle.

Have a cup of coffee (or whatever), but for the sake of all get the hell away from the vehicle. A rest in the car (other than sleep) is absolutely useless to you, or to the other motorists that you share the road with.

I used to drive for Highway Haulage in Pymble, before "Old" Arthur H Gillott died. Boof, as he was known (but not to his face!) had a policy that he tried to strictly enforce.

He used to say to me, "Pal, I want you to load up and drive until no later than midnight! Go to sleep, and get up with the Sun and go again. Ring me at 7:00 O'Clock and tell me where you are. Don't worry if you're running late, I'll fix it"!

He meant every word he said. I know, because he once roasted me in a big way for driving through until 4:00 AM!! His reasoning was incredibly simple!

Most crashes occur between the hours of 2:00 and 4:00 O'Clock in the morning.
That is when your body is at it's lowest ebb, notwithstanding that you may have had a few hours sleep.
Remember that the other bloke is also at his lowest ebb, and that is often a fatal combination.

Another thing Boof would have us do is stop every two hours, get out, kick the tyres and go for a walk for about 10 minutes no matter how late we may have been.

Can you guess why?

I know of a Police Accident Investigation Unit that calls itself the "Early Morning Prang Gang"!

I wonder why?

Plan your trip so that you have adequate breaks built in to your agenda.
It is better to be late than to be dead on arrival!!!
Rest often and change drivers if possible.
Even when you do have a "spare" driver, when you're changing over, get to buggery away from the car for 10 or 15 minutes at least.
Stop and have light snacks. A heavy meal makes your body work digesting it and, believe it or not, that adds to fatigue.
Do not allow yourself to get bored!
Boredom is just the fatigue devil in another form. Music helps little if at all.
Winding the windows down is just so much wasted time.
The only effective cure is rest or, if you've been going for a while, a sleep.
Listen to your body and do not ignore any of the signs outlined above.

Last but not least, I suggest that you drive in daylight. Unless you've got lights like the Interstater's, you will become very tired, very quickly. Besides, those blokes dance the highway every night of the week, and know every inch of it, what they can do, where and when discretion is the better part of valour. Because they are so well versed in the conditions, they may be cornering a little harder than you (because they know what can be done, where) and they have their own methods that are very effective for warning one another of dangers that you can't see due to the fact that you are a lot lower or your lights and general visibility is so much worse for you than the view that they are presented with.

Perhaps one thing that is not generally known by the public is the fact that, on the open road, a B-double can easily out corner your car. They actually handle brilliantly, so long as the corners aren't particularly sharp. Flowing corners on the open road are just eaten up by those things. Any B-double drivers reading this, just remember that the little 4 wheeler in front of you probably can't handle as well as you so make allowances.

Safe motoring!