• Drivers who have been awake for 24 hours are seven times more likely to have an accident.
    Drivers who have been awake for 24 hours are seven times more likely to have an accident.
Home Action Plans Safer road users Fatigued driving

Fatigued driving

While the contribution of fatigue to road trauma is difficult to assess, it is estimated that fatigue is a factor in 20 per cent of driver deaths on Victoria’s roads each year.

A study conducted by the Adelaide Centre for Sleep Research concluded that a person who has been awake for 17 hours faces the equivalent risk of having an accident as a person who has a BAC reading of 0.05, and is therefore twice as likely to have an accident as a person with a zero blood alcohol content who is not fatigued.* Drivers who have been awake for 24 hours have an equivalent driving performance to a person who has a BAC of 0.1 and is seven times more likely to have an accident.

The First Action Plan aims to reduce the incidence and severity of fatigue related crashes through public education campaigns, improvements to road infrastructure, a greater research effort and enforcement targeted at heavy vehicle driver fatigue.

 

Area of action Actions
Public education
  • Undertake public awareness campaigns to increase motorists’ understanding of the fatigue/crash relationship, and ways to avoid and respond to fatigue.
  • Incorporate fatigue avoidance practices within corporate OHS guidelines.
Enforcement
  • Work with the heavy vehicle industry to enforce Chain of Responsibility laws.
  • Develop a roadside test for fatigue.
Infrastructure
  • Carry out improvements to address run-off-road crashes and head-on crashes, such as:
    • tactile centre-lines and edge lines
    • safety barriers
    • clearance of roadside hazards, such as trees and utility poles
    • texture changes on road surfaces to provide warnings to motorists.
  • Carry out improvements to rest stop facilities and include rest stop areas in the design of new major roads, freeways and highways.

Research and data

  • Undertake research to examine:
    • fatigue related crashes and road design countermeasures
    • fatigued motorcycle riding
    • driver and rider perceptions of fatigue crash risk.
  • Trial new technologies to detect fatigue and if proved effective, promote their use to vehicle fleet and private vehicle purchasers.

* Road Safety in Australia: A Publication Commemorating World Health Day 2004, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Canberra, pp133-134.

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