Fatigue while driving

Find out about the impacts of being tired while driving, what causes driver fatigue, and workplace interventions that may help.

Defining fatigue while driving

Waka Kotahi, the New Zealand Transport Agency, defines fatigue as “a state of physical and mental exhaustion, which results in the loss of alertness”. As we become fatigued our ability to concentrate is reduced and our reaction times slow down.  This results in our driving performance becoming worse and is shown by behaviours including drifting within lanes and changing speed.

Fatigue is thought to be a factor in 20-30% of vehicle crashes. These vehicle crashes can be more severe because of a slower time to react to thus braking too late or not at all.

To give this perspective estimates from New Zealand’s Health Navigator page suggest, that:

• if you stay awake for 18 hours and then drive, it is equivalent to driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 50 mg per 100 ml of blood (the same BAC as the legal drink drive limit for drivers 20 years and older in Aotearoa New Zealand)
• if you stay awake for 24 hours and then drive, it is equivalent to driving with a BAC of 100 mg per 100 ml of blood – twice the legal limit for adults in Aotearoa New Zealand.

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