Fatigue radio campaign to break later this month

The DfT has announced details of its summer holiday driver tiredness campaign, which will break later this month.

"During the summer holiday period families drive long distances to get to their holiday destinations - sometimes without planning proper breaks into the journey or without the driver being refreshed at the outset," says the DfT’s Glyn Robinson. "Up to 20 per cent of collisions on motorways are caused by drivers nodding off at the wheel. While young men are the primary year-round target, holiday drivers are at risk during the summer months."

The campaign will use two radio commercials to reach people before they travel and while they are travelling, to alert them to the dangers of falling asleep at the wheel and the necessity of planning a rest stop every two hours.

The commercials - Microsleep Driving and Microsleep Meeting – have been used in the past and aim to get people to imagine how far they would travel at 70mph if they nodded off for 6 seconds (about 1/8 of a mile) and to realise how dangerous this could be. The call to action is ‘When you’re planning a journey, plan to stop at least every two hours.’

The commercials will run on national radio, Friday-Sunday, starting 18 July and ending 31 August. To hear the commercials go to www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/fatigue/index.htm.

Supplementary campaign materials can be found on www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk/catalogue/index.htm under ‘Fatigue materials’.