Safety Advice for Long Distance Driving
Long distance drivers can easily become tired or lose concentration from doing the same thing over and over again for hours on end, which is why it is important to take some notes on tips and hints on staying alert and awake on long distance trips which will keep you safe, particularly on journeys that last more than a day.
You should bring along CDs that you will enjoy which are upbeat and will keep you occupied and awake; avoid long audio CDs or intellectual tracks (we’d recommend saving Stephen Hawking’s a Brief History of Time for another day) as these have the tendency to lull drivers to sleep from becoming briefly bored. Do not rely on your radio for solid entertainment as the signal will often change on long trips and you will find yourself concentrating on changing stations when you should be concentrating on the road.
Try and plan or schedule certain times for sleeping if you know a journey is going to be longer than a day. Do not drink coffee or caffeine before your allocated sleeping time and make sure you don’t rely on coffee to immediately wake you in the morning as it does not act fast. Avoid excessive amounts of coffee as this will make your irritated, paranoid and shaky and avoid heavy meals full of sugar as this will affect your blood sugar levels and effect how tired you become.
If you feel your eyes growing heavy or you feel stiff, start to lose concentration quicker or start day dreaming then this could be a sign you are tired. If you are only an hour or two away from your scheduled sleeping time then sleep anyway; if you are not then rest but adjust the time later as it is important to get the correct amount of sleep.
And, perhaps the most important tip, do not use cruise control. This has the effect of making drivers lose concentration and fall asleep as the brain is not occupied when cruise control is doing all the work so it quickly becomes bored. You must be aware at all times anyway and cruise control will not keep you aware; if you are not concentrating enough and the traffic suddenly slows you will not react in time with the cruise control on and may risk a serious crash.
Long distance lorry drivers should also be aware of how secure their vehicle is, for example by implementing high quality trailer alarms
Dec212010
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