Thread: Falling asleep behind the wheel

Back in the bad old days, you'd wake up when the engine started labouring as your foot came off the throttle. How many trucks hit the trees still at full noise with the cruise control still on?

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

I wonder if the statistics for running off the road were less in the old days when cars had bench seats, no radios and ordinary heaters , when you couldn't get comfortable enough to fall asleep?

but all of those uncomfortable things tire you out quicker

Wasn't there a fatality a few years back attributed to the driver being forced into an extra shift before driving home ? I know years back when strong armed into doubles , often afternoons to nights I would struggle to stay awake on parramatta road. Funny though it was not permissible to sleep in the car before leaving or to be late for the next shift. I'm sure this happens too much .

Comfort or the lack of has no relationship to sleeping while driving. A microsleep might only last a second or two but that's long enough to lose control of a vehicle. Many causes can bring on a microsleep, some of the more common being lack of sleep, boredom, alcohol, general fatigue, illness and drugs, either illicit or prescription.
Heavy vehicle operators are strictly monitored and restricted in their hours of work, yet the very people who enforce a $1000+ fine for a 15 minute breach can legally work a 12 hour shift, then hop into their car and caravan with every intention of driving a thousand kilometres.

The dad of a friend of mine used to regularly drive Moree to Sydney (I think a couple of times per week). My mates story was that his dad would close his eyes and drift right until he heard the rumble strip, then drift left until the rumble strip...and continue....


I had a micro sleep 5mins from home late one night with all 5 kids and wife in the car. Woke up just as I was drifting into the oncoming lane and an oncoming car flashed past me. Totally freaked me out. I've taken the possibility of falling asleep at the wheel far more seriously since then.

Originally Posted by Roverlord off road spares

I wonder if the statistics for running off the road were less in the old days when cars had bench seats, no radios and ordinary heaters , when you couldn't get comfortable enough to fall asleep?

As Ian said, comfort has no relationship...

I drove Macks/ Volvo's/ Scania's/ Whites/Cabover Kenworths upto 1993... Never drove a W model, regarded it as a cowboy's truck....

Drove my first W model, went and got one real soon after that... Out of all the trucks I had driven, that was the first and possibly only truck that I could still walk after driving all day....
Our bitumen roads are rougher than the gravel roads, and the old W model was the same on both...
The volvo and Scania was ok, but that W was ideal, seating position must have been just perfect for me...Mind you, like the Macks, you felt every bump... But that truck never tired you out like everything else I drove or owned...


WA laws, pre 2000.. 15 hours maximum driving in one day... No log books thus law un enforcable...
We did have our accidents but it was not like the east where the log books where and enforcement was rampant...

Originally Posted by trog

Wasn't there a fatality a few years back attributed to the driver being forced into an extra shift before driving home ? I know years back when strong armed into doubles , often afternoons to nights I would struggle to stay awake on parramatta road. Funny though it was not permissible to sleep in the car before leaving or to be late for the next shift. I'm sure this happens too much .

yes there was Trog. there was more than one on the Peak Downs highway heading back to Mackay from the coalfields as far west and south as the Moranbah , Middlemount and Clermont areas.

workers leaving for their break now must have a forced rest before leaving for home...... or they may not have a job to return to.

Den

I've taken a power nap in a boat. Fished all night and thought I'd double dip and troll home. I don't think it took much with the combination of the morning sun, the roll of the swell and being tired from the start but luckily I was awoken by a reel going off when I was about 30m from the rocks. I went back through the track on the GPS and from where it started to curve I reckon I'd been snoozing for about 2-3 minutes and was about 30 seconds from going crunch.