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Fatigued drivers put lives and cheap car insurance at risk

As part of its winter safety initiative, the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has warned Irish drivers that up to a fifth of fatal car accidents may be caused by motorists who are too tired to be driving.

However, it is also likely that driver fatigue also accounts for many more less serious accidents in which only a cheap car insurance rate is damaged.

Drivers who are fatigued are likely to lose concentration quicker and have slower reactions than a fully-awake person. They are also prone to micro sleeps, a phenomenon which was explained by Noel Brett, who is a spokesman for the RSA.

He said: "Eventually [a fatigued driver] will drift in and out of consciousness and experience 'micro sleeps', which can last for up to 10 seconds. During this time, the driver has no control of the vehicle.

Mr Brett likened the level of impairment caused by fatigue to that of drink driving.

He advised motorists who are feeling tired to "stop driving, park in a safe place, drink two cups of coffee and then take a 15 minute nap." They should then get some fresh air and have a walk around. This should prove refreshing enough to allow another hour's driving.

The RSA explained that the times when motorists are most prone to fatigue are between two and six in the morning and two and four in the afternoon. Accident rates can often be seen to tally with this, with disproportional numbers of car crashes happening in the early hours.

Corrine Aldous of cheap car insurance firm duck2water Car Insurance Services said: "If you drive while fatigued and have an accident, the very least you will see is an increased motor insurance premium.

"Unfortunately, the chances are that the result of such a crash could be a lot more serious," she warned.

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