12 interesting safety facts...

[Blackbird]

from the Akilla website (http://www.akilla.co.nz/)

1. If you drive after staying awake for 24 hours you are as dangerous as someone who is above the blood alcohol legal limit in New Zealand !

2. On four hours sleep one bottle of beer has the same effect on a driver’s control and reaction times as a six-pack of beer !

3. In Victoria, Australia they have introduced The Crimes (Dangerous Driving) Act 2004 and a driver who falls asleep at the wheel and causes a fatal crash faces up to five years in jail. In New Jersey (United States) a driver who falls asleep at the wheel and causes a fatal crash faces up to 10 years in jail and a $US 100,000 fine.

4. When you are feeling tired a bright white light (e.g the Sun) can without warning cause the retina of the eye to signal the brain that it's time to sleep.

5. At 100 km/hr, your car travels 27 metres in a single second. During a three second micro-sleep your car travels 83 metres, which is almost the length of a rugby field. Drivers are not always aware that they are micro-sleeping.

6. Drivers under the age of 30 are four times more likely to have a drowsy driving related crash than drivers over 30.

7. Most drowsy driving crashes occur 10 minutes from home and in built up areas rather than rural areas.

8. Having a sleeping front seat passenger can be fatal. Research has shown that a driver can pick up the sleep breathing patterns of a passenger and then fall asleep themselves.

9. Undiagnosed and untreated sleep medical conditions can result in the driver blacking out without warning.

10. The smell of new cars (gases given off by the various chemicals that glue together a car’s new vinyl and plastic components) can have a dangerous sleep-inducing effect.

11. A United Kingdom study of a truck fleet showed that serious crashes soared half an hour after the consumption of fatty or sugary foods.

12. There is no research evidence to support that a rest from driving will help you if you are drowsy from sleep deprivation. One needs to sleep (e.g take a 15 minute Power Nap).

[placidfemme]

Wow reading that is quite scary...

[scumdog]

13th fact: The majority of those that these facts pertain to don't know and don't care about them...

[vifferman]

The smell of new cars (gases given off by the various chemicals that glue together a car’s new vinyl and plastic components) can have a dangerous sleep-inducing effect.

Yeah, also puts a film on the windscreen.

One car maker (Renault or Citroen) have released a car this year with built-in scent dispenser for this very reason (the drowsiness one, not the mucky windscreen). They've avoided several popular scents like lavender because they promote drowsiness, and picked ones known to be stimulating, but not promoting agression.

Or summat.

[placidfemme]

13th fact: The majority of those that these facts pertain to don't know and don't care about them...

Do you mean the actual drivers themselve?

Oh and... random question... I've never heard of anyone falling asleep while riding a bike... but does it happen? Is it common?

[spudchucka]

Here's a reminder about why we should always drive with two hands on the wheel, wear your seat belt and don't fall asleep at the wheel.

http://www.ugoto.com/videos/go/drive...epwhiledriving

I can't believe the dumb arse never at one stage puts two hands on the wheel, even after he realises he is about to crash.

[Waylander]

Well that's just what I needed to read after staying up all night and then having to drive between here and the dump atleast twice today...
Does it help if I got roughly 14 hours of sleep yesterday?

[Motu]

Do you mean the actual drivers themselve?

Oh and... random question... I've never heard of anyone falling asleep while riding a bike... but does it happen? Is it common?

I've had it happen to me - bit of a wake up call when you wake up! I pulled over and had a sleep in a nice warm stock pile of road metal.

[placidfemme]

I've had it happen to me - bit of a wake up call when you wake up! I pulled over and had a sleep in a nice warm stock pile of road metal.

It's good you didn't crash... Very scary.

[Waylander]

Here's a reminder about why we should always drive with two hands on the wheel, wear your seat belt and don't fall asleep at the wheel.

http://www.ugoto.com/videos/go/drive...epwhiledriving

I can't believe the dumb arse never at one stage puts two hands on the wheel, even after he realises he is about to crash.

Umm yea fuk that I'm not goin anywhere today. Looks almost like he got his head stuck between the door and the ground on the outside. Came very close to just that.

[bugjuice]

4. When you are feeling tired a bright white light (e.g the Sun) can without warning cause the retina of the eye to signal the brain that it's time to sleep.

like car headlights?

I've heard of many researchers using technology to scan your eye pattern and blink rate. Also your body temp and car control. All effected before you close your eyes. The car figures out you're heading to the land of nod and it'll do something to wake you up, such as blast you in the face with freezing cold air, turn the radio up unexpectantly etc etc, all in order to wake you up.

I've found myself hard to keep my eyes open. So I have pulled over. Thing is, making an active desicion like that, and pulling the car to a stop etc, often increases brain activity, which means you wake up again. Ironic. But I have pulled over, and had a 15 min snooze, and it's set me straight. Even pulled over with mates in the car who have all been tired too, and said that we're stopping, no matter what. We all snoozed, then they annoyed the shit out of me for the rest of the trip back. Sorted.

Not worth the risk peeps, tiredness is a killer. Then there's the people you hit and the chaos you cause.

I have felt tired riding the bike before too. I was on the motorway just going in a straight line forever. I started to vary the speed and switch lanes on purpose to give me something to do, but that just made more brain work, which made me tired still. So I stopped up and had a wee snooze, and a coffee, then I was buzzin for the rest of the way.. sorted.

[crazylittleshit]

Saftey Saftey Now people

[Ixion]

Do you mean the actual drivers themselve?

Oh and... random question... I've never heard of anyone falling asleep while riding a bike... but does it happen? Is it common?

Don't know that I've actually fallen completely asleep, but I have nodded to the extent that I was completely on "auto pilot".

All very well to say pull over and sleep , but if you're on a bike and the only place to sleep is in a snow drift ? And it's raining ? Nothing for it but to press on . Fortunately a bit further on I found one of those little roadside crates/sheds (like mini bus shelters) that farmers used to put their milk cans in, so I crawled into that and slept the night.

Bus shelters are also good if you need to get a kip , the old ones that were a proper little building, anyway.

I've also been so physically exhausted off-road that i just could not go on, stopped , laid down in a comfortable bush, and pronmptly fell dead asleep for about 5 hours. Which was very inconvenient.

[XP@]

Do you mean the actual drivers themselve?

Oh and... random question... I've never heard of anyone falling asleep while riding a bike... but does it happen? Is it common?

I've done it.. been woken up by a pothole and very big "<<< 35kph <<<" sign.

[Blackbird]

On the Grand Challenge 1000 miles in 24 hours ride about 3 years ago, a guy on a Beemer fell asleep and rode into a storm drain filled with water. Apart from being soaked through, he was unscathed and despite the bike being about 80% submerged, it started first crank after having been retrieved. Bike was largely unmarked too!