What are our habits and bad driving habits when making a trip?

Race has carried out a study to reveal the habits and, above all, the bad habits of European drivers. Fatigue and alcohol are considered the main causes of accidents.

Summer is the period of the year when the most road journeys are made throughout the whole year. At this time of year, journeys are longer and it is hotter, which is why fatigue, drowsiness and dehydration are more common. For this reason, Race has published its “2019 Driver Fatigue Eurobarometer” to reveal issues such as driving habits and how tiredness affects journeys for European drivers.

What are our driving habits?

In general, European drivers plan long-distance journeys, as 77.1% say they always or almost always do so. Therefore, 68.8% rest before setting off and 48.9% plan a route to try to avoid traffic congestion.

However, not all habits are good: 26.8% exceed the speed limit to try to shorten the journey time, 9.2% do so only when extremely tired, and 15.7% have suffered an accident due to fatigue.

If we consider the data collected by the study by country, the Nordic countries are the least likely to plan their journeys. In contrast, in Poland, Spain and Portugal is where routes are most often planned.

How do we travel?

As for how Spaniards travel, 3 out of 4 Spaniards (72.8%) prefer the private vehicle even though it is more expensive than other alternatives, a figure that exceeds the European average (66.4%).

On the other hand, 31.2% of Spaniards believe that shared transport platforms or sharing are a good alternative for making this type of journey. In this respect, our country lags behind countries such as Italy, France or Norway, where more than 50% of the population would consider this option for travel.

Good news is that Spaniards are aware of the need to protect and respect the environment. For this reason, more than 50% say they choose the most sustainable means of transport for their journeys.

Alcohol and fatigue remain the main risk factors

Here we come to one of the black spots of road safety: 43.6% of European drivers in general, and Spanish drivers in particular, say that they drink alcohol and then get behind the wheel. Of these, 22% admit that they do so frequently in our country, with France (33%) and the United Kingdom (27.5%) being where it is most common.

Italian, French and British drivers are those at greatest risk of suffering an accident caused by fatigue or sleep. The profile of this type of driver is aged between 18 and 24, does not stop to rest until the symptoms of drowsiness are already evident and, once they stop, does so for 5 minutes or even less. This is worrying and not recommended at all, as after two hours of driving, fatigue increases the risk of a crash by 12%.

European drivers recognise fatigue when they need to shift in their seat, lose concentration, suffer muscle cramps or back pain, or feel sleepy. Moreover, many of them say they always experience these symptoms on a journey. Even worse, half of European drivers admit to having experienced episodes of sleep during a long journey, and 5.2% say they have practically fallen asleep while driving.

The consequences of driving in this state are that reaction time to an obstacle increases by no less than 86%. For this reason, tiredness, sleepiness and fatigue at the wheel are the main enemies of driving.

How to avoid sleepiness and fatigue?

Some remedies have already been proposed, such as the advanced sensory steering wheel of Jaguar-Land Rover. However, to avoid these very unpleasant and dangerous symptoms at the wheel, it is advisable to keep in mind these tips for avoiding fatigue and sleep:

Stop every two hours:

If you are making a long-distance journey, it is important that you make stops every two hours at most. In addition, each stop should last at least 15 minutes.

Hydration is important:

When travelling on the road at high speeds, hydration is essential. For this reason, always keep a bottle of water or a soft drink to hand and keep sipping even when you are not thirsty.

Stretch:

Make use of the stops you make every two hours to stretch your joints. When we have been in the same position for a long time, it is normal for them to “seize up”, so it is important that they get moving.

Avoid heavy meals:

Some foods promote tiredness, especially those rich in fibre and minerals, such as avocado. There are also others with stimulating properties, such as cocoa. Therefore, keep this kind of food in mind and, of course, do not eat more than you should, since digesting a large meal can bring on drowsiness.