To prevent fatigue at the wheel make sure that you:
- Plan your journey and include a 15-minute break every two hours
- Have a good night’s sleep before a long journey
- If necessary, plan an overnight stop
- Don’t start your journey if you’re already tired
- Try to avoid an unusually early start to your journey
- Avoid trips between midnight and 6am and 2-4pm when natural alertness is low and you are likely to feel more sleepy
- Avoid a long drive home after a full day’s work
- Share the driving on a long journey if possible
- If you start to feel tired, find a safe place to stop – not the hard shoulder. Drink two cups of coffee or a high-caffeine drink and have a 15 minute rest to allow the caffeine to take effect. This is a short term solution that will only enable you to drive for a short time – then you’ll need a proper sleep.