Tiredness kills- take time for a break
The Easter holidays are looming and thousands of motorists in Warwickshire will be planning a get away, prompting a call from Warwickshire County Council’s Road Safety Unit to not let tiredness kill.
Warwickshire County Council is supporting the Government’s latest `Tiredness Kills’ campaign as Easter approaches – a time when people traditionally make longer trips on the road.
Many people remain unaware of the dangers of driving tired, yet research suggests that up to 350 people are killed each year in sleep related accidents.
The main findings show that drivers believe a good journey was one that could be made without stopping at all. For many, the solution to driver tiredness was to wind down the windows and turn up the music and for male drivers refuelling the car or stopping for food or to go to the toilet was seen as `taking a break’.
Stan Milewski, Senior Road Safety Officer, said: “It’s easy to avoid the dangers of driving tired. Simply plan your journey to include a 15-minute break every two hours of driving, and don’t even begin your journey if tired.
“However, if you do start to feel sleepy, find a safe place to stop (not on the hard shoulder of a motorway) as soon as possible. Taking a 15 minutes break can literally mean the difference between life and death.”