Staying Awake

[Craig]

I do a hell of a lot of driving in my job and sometimes find it hard to stay awake on longer journeys. What are your favoured methods of staying awake when you feel this way? Obviously a quick break can help, as can a sugar filled drink such as Dr Pepper, but what when those both fail? What do you do?

[Sim_Da_BTCC_Man]

Take a break. Im going to sound like one of those adverts but its the only way if you don't want to get killed

[Bluebottle]

Take a break

Drink coffee

Chew gum, don't know why it works but PaulC suggested it to me and it does seem to keep your alertness up a bit!

[rdjones]

I would echo what is said above, the other option is to play music or listen to the radio.

[Alpina]

Take pro plus or drink red bull! Don't listen to music. switch everything off and sing! The effort of singing and remembering the words will do the trick. If those don't work TAKE A BREAK. I could be on the road at the same time as you.

[Craig]

Break is generally not an option as we're only permitted 20 minutes a day (though sometimes I do sneak a bit more ) but the time of arrival/departure from each site is usually checked so they would know if we were to take extra breaks. I can't stand coffee and, sadly, if I want the radio on I have to have it so damned loud to hear it over the engine that it kinda removes me from the enviroment that surrounds me and I have less of an idea what's going on than before!

I'll try the gum thing though, ta. Anyone else got any thoughts? The thing that works for me, when I'm in a car, is to maintain a decent speed so I have to concentrate. Unfortunately the trucks we have at work don't go much over 60 and it takes an age to get anywhere... grrr

[Craig]

Red Bull. hmmm...! I used to drink that but I used to drink so much of it to try and keep alert that, in the end, I swear I became addicted to it and it was doing me no good at all so I stopped drinking it!!

What's this Pro Plus??

[Alan Jones]

I used to listen to talkback to keep me up late at night when driving a cab.

[Mattracer]

Just drive faster.

[Carrie]

Originally posted by Bluebottle
Chew gum

I was working with a guy recently who said that he can fall asleep very easily behind the wheel. He said that his doctor's recomendation was to chew gum as a solution and he also said he finds that works.

As for Pro Plus, aren't they caffiene tablets. I've known lots of people who've taken them to stay awake when studying for exams or through the exams themselves.

I'm hopeless at driving without the radio if I'm driving on my own. If I have to drive in silence I find I don't concentrate as much.

I've not found anything that really works other than taking a break.

[evo]

Chewing gum is the best way. It's apparently the chewing motion that keeps you awake. Technically you could chew anything...

[Morris 1100]

Craig, A lot of truck drivers in Aus take drugs!








I found that you need to keep moving your eyes, if you just look straight ahead you will get tired quicker so you need to keep the eyes moving which keeps the brain working.
Find things to focus on, far away and then close up.

There are herbal thing that you can get from health food stores that may help (I have never used any)

I have never taken drugs!

[KC]

I've stopped and taken a short power nap to get through rural Oklahoma before. Just 10 minutes can make a huge difference on how you feel.

[woodyracing]

chewing gum while sleepy... sounds a bit dodgy to me.
fall asleep, swallow gum, choke and then crash.

[Flatspot]

I find that opening all available windows helps, especially when its cold. It's loud and the fresh air tends to clear my head.

If that doesn't work try playing some heavy metal you really hate at full volume. After several minutes you will find yourself far more likely to stop and kick the **** out of someone than fall asleep.

[Alpina]

Pro Plus is a brand of high caffeine tablets. Definately work. I once heard of a technique that involves you trying to massage your brain by vibrating it with sound waves ! you hum a note very loudly then work up and down the scale. this is supposed to stimulate your brain.
I can't beleive you are not allowed to take a safety break. That is very bad practice and I think illegal.

[evo]

I had a friend who would use Chocolate Covered Coffee beans from Starbucks. That definitley worked, but it certainly couldn't have been good for him.

[Craig]

Nothing illegal about it - it's just the way of the world. No one likes it but there's just not enough hours in the day. So far this week I've done 15 hours overtime or thereabouts so you can see why we're restricted to the minimum permitted rest period - if we took much more we'd never get home! Most of the time it's absolutely fine (we drive to the job do between three and eight hours of work and then drive home, so there's plenty of time away from the driving seat) but sometimes it can be a bit of a bugger to keep the eyes open!

Gonna check out these Pro Plus things - where can I buy them? Is it a pharmacy thing?

[Carrie]

Chemists sell them, or you may also find them in Asda, our local store has them on sale on the little sweet counter things that are right by the tills.

[DMC]

You might be interested in reading this from the Sydney Morning Herald:

Death, drugs and fatigue: truckies get day in court
By Leonie Lamont
June 19 2003

Truck driver Darri Haynes was incinerated when the semitrailer he was driving crashed on the Pacific Highway just outside Grafton in September 1999. Another truckie, Neville Walker, survived the two-vehicle smash.

But in a trial which is highlighting the trucking industry's nemesis of fatigue and stay-awake drugs, Mr Haynes's employer, Jim Hitchcock, is being prosecuted by WorkCover.

It has charged him with failing to ensure the health and safety of his employee and, significantly, for failing to ensure that others who were using the road were not at risk.

It has struck fear into the trucking industry, which is worried that the action will turn the state's roads and highways into a workplace - with all the legal responsibility for safety that would entail.

The trial follows a recent case in the ACT in which an employer was ordered to pay $390,000 damages to a truck driver who was severely injured in a crash when he fell asleep during a marathon 88 hours on the road.

In that case, Justice Terence Connolly of the ACT Supreme Court said the evidence of the injured driver, Gregory Hoey, 39, of excessive driving hours and falsified log books "revealed a state of affairs which, if widespread in the long-distance trucking industry, should be of real concern to the community".

In the present trial before the Industrial Relations Commission's vice-president, Justice Michael Walton, Mr Hitchcock is charged with failing to ensure that long-haul drivers took sufficient rest stops or that driving rosters adequately took into account the effects of fatigue and sleep deprivation.

It also alleges that he failed to warn employees of the hazards of taking drugs to counter fatigue.

Mr Hitchcock's counsel, Bruce Hodgkinson, SC, said he denied the charges, adding that the case was the state's first under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The trucking industry has written to the Premier, Bob Carr, concerned that if the prosecution succeeds it will affect all commercial users of roads. The industry body NatRoad is asking members to contribute to a fighting fund to help Mr Hitchcock.

Justice Walton has provisionally allowed to be admitted as evidence computer records of RTA Safe-T-Cam sightings of the truck Mr Haynes drove in the months before his death.

The 21 cameras log the time it takes trucks to pass through locations, indicating whether speed limits and rest breaks have been complied with.

But a witness yesterday, Royce Everingham, a truck driver, said that during the time he worked for Hitchcock Haulage he had "bodgied" the logbook, and did not take prescribed breaks.

He was given a certificate by Justice Walton so that his evidence can not be used against him in any criminal prosecution.

Under questioning by Peter Skinner, for WorkCover, Mr Everingham said he had been required to drive after exceeding his allowable driving hours.

Mr Skinner asked: "What if you said no?"

Mr Everingham replied: "You wouldn't have a job, the freight has to go through; that's the job"

Mr Everingham said that falsifying the logbooks was an "occupational hazard. You have to do it; if you don't you don't get the job done".

Questioned by Mr Hodgkinson, Mr Everingham agreed that the company had a no-drugs policy, adding: "I have rung Jim when I was tired and the freight had to be in, and said, 'I can't hold my head up', and he said, 'Go to bed'." The trial continues today.

In the ACT case, Justice Connolly said that while a driver injured after falling asleep would normally be responsible for his actions, in this case the truckie had driven excessive hours at the behest of his employer.

When he had told his boss he was "buggered", he was told that if he couldn't "handle the job, get out". Justice Connolly said it was untenable for an employer to leave it to the employee to decide to what extent he would abide by safety laws.

[medler]

I try and make sure I get good nights sleep, but I find there are points in the day when my body reaches a low point. In the summer it’s mid afternoon and in the winter it’s about 6o clock in the morning. The solution I’ve found is to get my head down on my 45-minute break. But if that’s not possible then the other options are do something while driving eat a sweet or have a drink anything to relieve the monotony or take a 10 minute nap no longer or you start to get to deep into sleep. However these are only short-term fixes.
If you are to tired to drive safely between jobs on your employer’s time then they are failing in their responsibilities for your health and safety and the fact you have already had your break doesn’t matter if you are falling asleep you are unfit to drive and should stop.

[Edgar Jessop]

The old road rallying trick which worked quite well was a sharp slap on the face. When all else failed the stinging would perk you up for the three minutes of the next selective [shame if it took longer].

Unfortunately I was only ever navigated by hideously ugly blokes so I was much happier slapping my own face in the car.

Where was Fabrizia Pons when I needed her most?

[Liz]

Open all the car windows and sing Bohemian Rhapsody ; listen to Dr. Laura or someone you seriously disagree with (in your case, someone really right wing -- get someone to send you Rush Limbaugh tapes if you can't buy them locally); Chinese Fire Drill -- stop and run around the truck full speed and then jump back in. Or if you can't run because the weather is bad, do ten jumping jacks or high kicks. Recite poetry or Shakespeare. Count by twelves or do your times tables out loud. Pretend TGF is sitting beside you and interview him out loud; or pretend Bernie is sitting there and tell him your plan to revive Formula One. Explain to Tony Blair why he should resign.

[DMC]

Or better still take your employer to court for negligence in the workplace. Tired drivers are one of the main reason our roads are graveyards.

[bcobbus]

I usually smoke a bunch of crank before a big drive! Well, maybe not...

Intersting subject, considering that last night some bozo fell asleep and ran into a power line and box, which knocked out power to our area!