Nearly a half of male drivers admit to sleeping at the wheel

Nearly half of male drivers admit to having fallen asleep at the wheel, a survey has found.

Road safety charity Brake and insurance company Direct Line found that 31% of all drivers admit to ‘head-nodding’ at the wheel – meaning they’ve fallen asleep while driving a car for between two and 30 seconds.

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45% of male drivers admit to head-nodding, compared to 22% of female drivers.

With more than 300 people dying each year as a result of tired drivers, Brake is calling for action from the government. The charity wants to see campaigns on the dangers of driving when tired, and a review of safe stopping places on motorways.

Deputy chief executive at Brake, Julie Townsend:

“The fact that so many drivers – especially men – have head-nodded at the wheel is horrifying, even more so that many don’t recognise this means they have fallen asleep briefly.”

Almost half (49%) of all respondents admit to driving after less than five hours’ sleep – again more common among men (55%) than women (45%).

Townsend concluded:

“This survey suggests this is down to many people failing to ensure they always get sufficient sleep before embarking on journeys. We need all drivers to wake up to the fact that ‘head nodding’ is falling asleep, and can easily lead to catastrophe, but it can, of course be prevented.”

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By motoringresearch.com