{"id":890,"date":"2012-05-31T12:53:35","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T11:53:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/?p=890"},"modified":"2024-10-09T15:06:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T14:06:14","slug":"driving-tired-worse-than-driving-drunk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/driving-tired-worse-than-driving-drunk","title":{"rendered":"Driving tired worse than driving drunk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Research carried out by scientists in Australia suggests that the effects of sleep loss can be similar to or worse than drinking alcohol to excess. The study found that sleep disruption or deprivation can seriously affect the body&#8217;s ability to think clearly and to move or react normally. The researchers from the University of New South Wales in Sydney suggest that staying awake for 18 hours without sleep can be the same as drinking to the legal limit. Couriers and the delivery companies that employ them should be aware of the increased risk of accidents after sleep deprivation.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the statistics used in the Government&#8217;s <em>Think! Don&#8217;t Drive Tired<\/em> campaign:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Sleep-related accidents are more likely than others to result in serious injury or fatality.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Research suggests that almost 20% of accidents on major roads are sleep-related.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0About 40% of sleep-related accidents involve commercial vehicles.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Peak times for accidents are in the early hours of the morning and after lunch.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Men under 30 are at the highest risk of falling asleep at the wheel.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Sleep deprivation impairs coordination, impairs judgement and results in longer reaction times.<\/p>\n<p>Advice for <a href=\"http:\/\/deliveryquotecompare.com\">delivery companies<\/a> to pass on to couriers:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Journeys should include 15-minute breaks every two hours.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Couriers should remember the risks if they have to get up unusually early.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Most people are likely to feel sleepy between midnight and 6 AM, so couriers should keep this in mind when taking on long driving jobs.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0If they begin to feel sleepy, drivers should find a safe place to stop \u2013 not the hard shoulder of a motorway.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0After finding a safe place to have a break, drivers should drink two cups of coffee or a high-caffeine energy drink and rest for 10 to 15 minutes. This will allow time for the caffeine to take effect.<br \/>\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A caffeinated drink or a nap is a short-term solution only. It will only enable a courier to continue driving safely for a short time. The only real cure for tiredness is proper sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research carried out by scientists in Australia suggests that the effects of sleep loss can be similar to or worse than drinking alcohol to excess. The study found that sleep disruption or deprivation can seriously affect the body&#8217;s ability to think clearly and to move or react normally. The researchers from the University of New [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,41],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5978,"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions\/5978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deliveryquotecompare.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}