Safe Speed Forums

Please consider your answer to this poll very carefully. I am planning to send the data to sleep researchers if it shows the result I expect.

For this purpose I only want careful answers based on the personal experiences of experienced drivers.

This poll follows on from (this thread).

This poll is not set to expire after a specified time.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

To promote a totally unbiased poll, you need to allow for answers such as my concentration would increase and there would be less risk of sleep.

That is not how I would vote, but I think it should be allowed for to cover each end of the spectrum.

hey there
i dont think your poll is asking the right question.
i drive anything upto a 44ton rig and although there have been times when tiredness does have an effect its not the biggest factor.
56 is fine most of the time in heavy trafic. On open roads and m-ways boredom sets in at 56. if youve had a good sleep before working then doing 56 affects your concentration.
if i've slept well then i can do 56 without getting tired but not without getting bored. maybe being bored and concentration dipping big time is just as dangerous as driving tired.


Sue

As a fellow 44ton driver, I'm with Suzi, however i will vote as well.

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Semper in excreta, nur quantitat variat.

I've driven recently in the USA - but the car had cruise control and that made it easier. I also set my cruise control around 60-61mph, 10% above the speed limit.

I thought most states had raised the limits well above 55 these days? I don't have the exact figures to hand (but I'm sure they are only a Google away) but I thought they were almost all 70mph now.

If I was contemplating driving in the states then I would make sure I knew though.

Here you go. Mostly 65 or 70, with a few set at 75.

I've just sent this to Professor Horne, a leading expert in driver sleepiness:

Subject: Sleep, speed and road crash risk
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 03:02:28 +0100
From: Paul Smith <psmith@safespeed.org.uk>
Organization: Safe Speed
To: J.A.Horne@lboro.ac.uk

Dear Professor Horne,

Accident investigators tell me that you are the foremost expert in driver
sleepiness.

Many experienced drivers - and I'd include myself in this - recognise a
relationship between travelling speed and alertness. Driving more slowly
reduces "work rate" and "information rate" and on a monotonous road might lead
to loss of concentration or even falling asleep. For example, see this user
poll on our forum system:

http://www.safespeed.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117

I fully appreciate that this is not a scientific survey, and that the sample
size is small, however, 95% of respondents recognise the effect on
concentration and almost 70% recognise an effect on their own risk of falling
asleep at the wheel.

On quiet motorways, late at night, it is now rare to be able to drive for an
hour without spotting an HGV driver wandering about in lane 1 showing signs of
poor concentration or even falling asleep. 15 years ago, before HGV speed
limiters, I'd suggest that this observation was at least 5 times less
frequent.

It seems to me that there's a continuous scale from:

* Far too slow: bored to death: work rate too low
* Right speed: engaged in task: work rate optimal
* Far too fast: scared to death: work rate too high

In these days of speed enforcement, speed limit reduction and especially HGV
speed limiters, I am absolutely amazed that I have not been able to find any
scientific investigation of these effects.

A subsidiary potential problem is that a low speed on a long route also
increases the duration of the exposure to the risk of falling asleep at the
wheel.

Perhaps you can recommend some research that I have been unable to find?

Or perhaps this is a completely neglected effect with serious potential road
safety consequences that urgently deserves investigation?

I would be extremely interested in any comments.

Best Regards,
Paul Smith
Safe Speed

web: http://www.safespeed.org.uk
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promoting intelligent road safety

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

i have recently become a Class One driver again after having a break from the "distance" work for a couple of years after doing it for 5 years...

i found that when travelling down the motorways at 100km/h, in my old "e" reg Scania, vastly improved my alertness and didn't feel tired even when driving for 4½ hours solid, but did find tiredness creeping in when i was on a similar journey in a wagon that was limited to the 56mph standard...

Most of these limited are draconian and were introduced when technology (braking, weight transferral etc) wasn't near as advanced as it is today...

That extra few clicks per hour made all the difference when on the motorways and the limits should be increased...

At 55 you're counting lamposts not watching the road at least 2/3 cars ahead.Not the first time i've pulled off the motorway when it's slow and had a nap.

Undertook a journey recently at 55-60 on DC's and M-ways (running in repaired engine).

Never yawned so much in my life.

I'm not an easy sleeper so doubt very much I'd fall asleep but my concentration would be very badly affected, I tend to drift off into my own world when faced with mind numbing monotomy. daydream, you could say...

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Fear is a weapon of mass distraction