According to spare parts and service specialist Kwik-Fit, more than six million (13%) British motorists narrowly escaped adding to the thousands of fatigue-related road accidents that occur each year, after admitting they’d fallen into a slumber while driving in the last 12 months.
The research for the ‘Driving for Better Business’ campaign found that 10% of motorists felt ‘drowsy whilst driving’ and a further 3% said they’d been on the verge of falling asleep behind the wheel.
Drowsy drivers shouldered most of the responsibility for their tiredness themselves - with 41% blaming the monotony of the journey for their stupor. A further 39% cited a general ‘lack of sleep’ and 32% blamed too few breaks on their journey.
According to the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University driver fatigue causes up to 20% of accidents on ‘monotonous’ roads. Worryingly, with a scorching summer now upon us, 15% of drowsy drivers blamed ‘stifling in car temperatures’ for their fug.
This, says Kwik-Fit, is perhaps not surprising, given that the research also found that 89% of motorists had never had their air conditioning unit recharged. Most manufacturers recommend that - in order to cool the car efficiently - air conditioning units should be recharged every two years.
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