Safe Speed Forums

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4885850.stm

I wonder how much worse it is being made by holding everyone up with daft traffic calming and other congestion encouraging measures?

The thing that makes me go to sleep is long boring roads at slow speeds. And it doesn't appear to be relative to the time of day. And it comes on unexpectedly. However tired you are you won't go to sleep if you are excited.

People have micro sleeps on motorways without even realising and sometimes micro becomes major.

How many people have trouble sleeping at night when they have a big day tomorrow?

Basically we don't understand sleep and its effects and to say don't drive when you are tired is so obvious and yet people still fall asleep at the wheel because when they start they feel all right.

Stopping to rest wakes you up. Even trying to make the decision whether to stop or not wakes you up. Then as soon as the decision is made you relax and carry on and fall asleep.

How many bosses would allow their reps an hours kip in the middle of the afternoon?

Just my tuppence worth.

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Shooting is good for you and too good for some people.

See this choice piece - http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/articl ... 14,00.html


While the campaign against speeding appears to be working, a separate survey suggests drivers are ignoring the message that “tiredness kills”.

Nearly half (46 per cent) of drivers admit to taking to the wheel while feeling drowsy and a third have been close to falling asleep while driving, according to a survey of 1,000 motorists commissioned by the RAC.


How long before some bright spark relates boredom to tiredness --orwill we have to wait for a sponsored survey by the bed manufacturers.

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lets bring sanity back to speed limits.
Drivers are like donkeys -they respond best to a carrot, not a stick .Road safety experts are like Asses - best kept covered up ,or sat on

Will not deny that I feel more alert when on a track day or on a German motorway.. perhaps it's because I'm aware of the danger .. brain releases body fluids (adrenalin etc) to cope. It also does this when we ride bikes Exercise



Linked to body fluids - anticipation.. Once the climax has peaked .. the effect wears very quickly. Those organising the recent Commonwealth Games in Oz and Manchester 2002 experienced similar anti-climax downs.. this causes the drained feeling.




Again - the anticipation.. and when "big day" arrives .. you feel flat after the event.



True .. if you have a big day and have trouble relaxing.... I know it's easy to say.... and perhaps Wildy's right to swear by her Yoga

I do agree.. the technique of deep, deliberatly slow inhalation and exhalation does calm.... and perhaps those finding difficulty sleeping should try this.

Also .. check the heating in the bedroom .. should be comfortably warm.. too hot and too cold do not aid relaxation.

As for Yoga relaxing techniques.. in addition to the slow breaths... you need a blanket to cover yourself to keep warm. Make a beck pillow by folding another blanket three times .. roll half way and fold the remainder to form a trainge for your head.. Lie down and make yourself comfy.. legs apart and feet to the sides Places arms a little away from hips .. palms facing upwards and fingers curling inwards Close your eyes. Just sweep you mind over your body and any tension you feel .. relax it... take tongue from roof of mouth .. float it in the centres .. open lips slightly .. just relax.. loosen up.. breathe deeply, slowly and evenly .. they more you practise .. the more relaxed you feel..


When you are ready.. raise your arms over your head slowly and jsut stretch out and then roll over to one side and stay curled up for one minute...


It does work...

This ten minutes does work...and I would think most bosses could cope with this

Not sure how this could work for reps on the move.. Wildy has one she does in the driver's seat at services on very long drives we do to Switzerland where she just places a rolled blanket on her knees - places her palms (upright) on this and just breathes slowly and calmly for ten minutes .. eyes closed.. This also helps regenerate .. along with a leg stretch.. coffee, food, lucozade.. etc.

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You release 'body fluids', Mog? Damn! You really know how to get the most out of driving!!!

Sorry mate! Filthy mind - couldn't resist it!

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Aquila



Licat volare si super tergum aquila volat...

Blame motorway speed enforcement and employers for this one.

An average day will see me doing 4 hours driving and completing one job on one site. Regardless of when I get there the job will likely take the same amount of time to get done. Some days get stupid if there are urgent calls coming in from far off locations.

My managers are all quite happy to do a ton on the motorway and basically expect everyone else to do at least 90, therefore they don't see it as being much of a problem when, to pick a recent example, I end up doing 590 miles in a day (to complete 2 jobs)

If I could do a ton on the motorway which would generally be safe, without risk of getting done that would have been a 12 hour day instead of a 16 hour day. Long but bearable, as it was I was in no fit state to drive by the end of it, but had to because I couldn't afford to pay for a hotel out of my own pocket and wasn't elegible to expense it since by the point that I felt I couldn't go on I was within 2 hours of home and the next days job was too close to claim an overnighter either.

A kip in the car helps, as do energy drinks, to a point. But if they run out, what do you do.

Once I got onto the A41 which is more of a challenging drive, I became a lot more alert though. It was just the M6/M5/M42/M40 leg which was dangerous.

Anyone got any desk-based IT jobs going in the Buckinghamshire area?

Refreshments and overnight acommodation at motorway service areas are ridiculously overpriced and you can't even sleep in your car any more without being hit with extortionate parking charges.

Just like with Speed cameras, safety is playing second-fiddle to the almighty dollar.

And there's no point asking the Government to do anything about the tired driving problem. They will just claim that at lower speeds, asleep-at-the-wheel accidents would be more survivable and start slashing motorway limits accordingly.

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“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.” - H. L. Mencken