To prevent driver fatigue, you cannot rely solely on legislation governing driving and off-duty time. Your lifestyle also plays a major role! The North American Fatigue Management Program (NAFMP) could be very helpful to you.
Fatigue is a gradual decline of physical and mental alertness that can lead to drowsiness or sleepiness.
Fatigue impairs our faculties, and we often do not even realize it. Just like alcohol, accumulated fatigue reduces our ability to concentrate, affects our judgment and reflexes, and thus our ability to drive.
Although heavy vehicle drivers are not the only ones predisposed to fatigue at the wheel, this problem is of particular concern for them due to:
Did you know?
Fatigue is one of the leading causes of death on our roads, along with alcohol, speeding and distraction.
When fatigue sets in, the only way to counteract it is to pull over in a safe location to:
Fatigue cannot be controlled, that is, you cannot simply "decide" to be less tired. The only solution is to sleep.
You must make the most of the time provided to recover so you can function well at work. You need to:
In general, the risk of a driver being involved in a fatigue-related accident depends on a number of factors:
A combination of factors considerably increases the risk. Know and respect your limits!
A laboratory study (Williamson and Feyer, 2000) compared the effects of a long period of wakefulness to the effects of alcohol (blood alcohol concentration):
Inadequate or poor sleep can have adverse effects on your overall health.
North American Fatigue Management Program
The goal of the North American Fatigue Management Program is to reduce driver fatigue, improve the quality of life of drivers, and lower the rate of accidents caused by fatigue and the related costs. The program targets heavy vehicle drivers and their families, employers, shippers, dispatchers and company safety supervisors.
The main goals of the program are to understand fatigue and to convey the importance of proper sleep hygiene and a healthy lifestyle.