Safety Break in the Trip
Driver’s rest time during the trip is a very important element of drive safety, appeals PKN ORLEN in a social campaign. The company encourages drivers to make stops during long tiring trips of 20 minutes every 2 hours of driving. Experts agree: a tired driver behind the wheel may be as dangerous as a drunk driver. On March 1st 2010 an education campaign was launched as part of the “ORLEN. Safe Roads” programme.
According to data from the World Health Organisation (WHO), road accidents come ninth on the list of sudden causes of death. Every year, 1.3 million people die in road accidents, with some 5,000 killed in Poland. Improper road behaviour that includes fatigue, excessive speed, drunk driving, or failure to fasten seat belts are among the causes of approximately 85 percent of all road accidents, say data provided by the Polish Chief Police Headquarters. Though drunk driving or excessive speed are talked of a lot, fatigue driving is still perceived as less important. Drivers very often do not make regular stops during long-hour drives or set off for the trip after a sleepless night.
The European Commission, and also the Polish National Road Safety Council, recommend drivers to make regular stops. Although EU standards and Polish laws that relate to mandatory breaks during trips are applicable to professional transport drivers, ORLEN has launched an education campaign on proper behaviour that would make all the travellers aware of that problem.
- Our company has been for years consistently acting towards improvement of safety on Polish roads.Since 2006 we’ve run the “ORLEN. Safe Roads” programme with education activities being its important element. Currently, we’re organising the fourth edition of the programme. This time we want to make people aware how much depends on our attitude while on the road. We want to teach proper behaviour, thus preventing tragedies from happening - stresses Jacek Krawiec, CEO of PKN ORLEN.
The campaign encourages drivers to make stops during long tiring trips of 20 minutes each, every 2 hours of driving which is enough for the driver to recuperate, improve fitness, and get well. “That rest will not only allow refreshing the driver’s mind, but to a large extent will provide for a continued and safe trip,” explains Krzysztof Hołowczyc, Poland’s top rally driver. He adds by saying that teaching proper attitudes and behaviour has an enormous impact on improving road safety.
- We constantly remind drivers about the most obvious truths – not to drive too fast and not to get behind the wheel while under the influence. Equally important is whether we’ve rested, slept well, and have good energy. Therefore, it’s important to make regular stops during the trip that will allow to restore your good shape. Those few moments can save someone’s life, and it’s obviously better to get to your point of destination a bit later, but more safely - appeals Krzysztof Hołowczyc.
There can be lots of reasons of fatigue among drivers. Apart from the obvious ones like the lack of sleep or “overwork”, the ability to concentrate is also affected by age, the personality type, level of stress, mood, season of the year, weather conditions (temperature, pressure, heat, and precipitation), the road quality, traffic (e.g. road jams), and even the time of the day when we drive. As seen from the statistics, the largest risk of falling asleep while driving is between midnight and 6:00 in the morning (with the highest one at 4:00 am) and between 1:00 and 4:00 in the afternoon.
- Research confirms that the impact of drivers’ fatigue on road safety is huge. When we’re tired, the psychomotor abilities deteriorate affecting: reflexes and divided attention, sight and movement co-ordination, assessment of speed and distance, sensitivity to glaring, and accommodation of the eye lens to darkness. Fatigued drivers travel less smoothly and frequently make violent moves with the steering wheel, they more often drive off to neighbouring lanes causing the risk of collision. Fatigue also affects the driver’s mood – he’s more inclined to be irritated more easily, erroneously reads signals from others, or more aggressively responds to what’s going on around on the road. It’s easy to lose control over the vehicle and cause an accident. It’s enough for the driver to close his eyes for two seconds only, and the car driving at 90 km/h will have driven 50 meters out of control - confirms Andrzej Markowski, Deputy Chairman of the Polish Association of Traffic and Transport Psychologists.
According to estimates by the Polish Motor Transport Institute (ITS) and the Polish Association of Traffic and Transport Psychologists (SPT), fatigue that leads to making erroneous decisions while on the road may cause as much as 10 to 25 percent of accidents.
Statistics and research results are the key arguments confirming the necessity of staging an appeal campaign to make regular stops during trips. You cannot neglect fatigue since its consequences may be very dangerous, and a mere 20-minute stop may safe many lives. You cannot cheat physiology by switching off heating, opening windows, talking with passengers, or listening to loud music. Only stopping a car and having a rest will do. Regular breaks are an opportunity to recuperate, stretch your legs, drink some coffee, or have a light meal. Staff at PKN ORLEN petrol stations will remind all travellers about that.
