The Fleet Safety Forum, an initiative coordinated by Brake, the road safety charity, has this week launched its Wake Up! Campaign to highlight to companies the very real peril of driver tiredness.
The new campaign is calling on employers, especially in these hard times of recession when employees might be under pressure to get more work done, to remain mindful of this silent killer when managing drivers’ schedules. Results from research undertaken by Brake on driver tiredness among fleet drivers has shockingly found that one in ten at-work drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel, compared with one in 20 drivers who don’t drive for work and at-work drivers more likely to hit the roads after as few as 5 hours sleep.
The charity has produced a free information pack for fleet managers and their drivers giving straightforward guidance to help them recognise the signs of tiredness on the road and prevent tired driving in the first place. The information pack is free from the charity to the first 50 companies who call 01484 559909 quoting ‘wake up’. Companies that subscribe to the Fleet Safety Forum also receive the information for free.
Also available is a low-cost ‘Wake up!’ workshop being run by the charity this autumn in central Leeds in partnership with Clockwork Research, which will take place on November 5, 2009. Places are expected to book up early, so register today by calling 01484 559909.
Roz Cumming, Fleet Safety Forum manager at Brake, said: “Driver tiredness is a deadly and major killer that can creep up on a company with no warning, particularly during times when business is tough, unless commonsense risk management practices are applied. I urge fleet managers to support the Wake Up! Campaign and help Brake to save lives by attending this important workshop and calling us for our free information pack.”