Take a break to reduce car insurance premiums

Posted :07-04-2006

Motorists who insist on completing their journey even when exhausted are putting their own and other drivers' lives at risk, according to a new study.

A survey by the RAC revealed that 46 per cent of British motorists had driven while feeling drowsy, while 34 per cent said they had been on the verge of falling asleep behind the wheel.

The study found that men aged 35 to 64 were the most likely to drive while drowsy, which according to government estimates was responsible for as many as 20,000 road accidents in 2005.

But while the number of deaths and injuries that are caused by driver drowsiness are the major concern, drivers are needlessly raising their car insurance premiums by doing so.

Jim Horne, director of Loughborough sleep research centre, warned that drivers who ignored signs of tiredness were taking "serious risks".

"[Drivers] don't realise that crashes involving falling asleep at the wheel are more likely to be fatal because of the absence of braking and great speed at impact," he warned.

Some 70 per cent of respondents cited opening a window as a way of combating driver fatigue, while a third thought that turning up the car stereo would help.

However, taking break when feeling drowsy is the most effective way of waking up, and seems a simple enough measure to avoid waking up with an expensive headache, or not waking up at all.


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