So says Unite news.motors.co.uk/statistics/mo … -to-unite/
If the question was asked in a way that considers all your years driving I would have expected higher, I did plenty of nodding head one night nearly 10yrs ago in and out the hard shoulder thinking I just need to make the next slip road to find a layby for a power nap.
If it was say “In the last 12mths have you fallen asleep at the wheel?” I would be more concerned.
theres plenty of drivers would fall asleep now and then being worked flat out ragged,but nowadays id say 99% of them now fall asleep constantly through utter boredom with scabby boring trucks,working for tosco and stobrats and similar plobber jobs on night trunks and the like.
the jobs being dumbed down with h&s,risk assesments and macdonalds type working practices its now just a paid from the neck down kebab meat on a seat wearing a hiviz and hardly surprising it bores drivers into a near catatonic state on a daily basis.
dieseldog999:
theres plenty of drivers would fall asleep now and then being worked flat out ragged,but nowadays id say 99% of them now fall asleep constantly through utter boredom with scabby boring trucks,working for tosco and stobrats and similar plobber jobs on night trunks and the like.
the jobs being dumbed down with h&s,risk assesments and macdonalds type working practices its now just a paid from the neck down kebab meat on a seat wearing a hiviz and hardly surprising it bores drivers into a near catatonic state on a daily basis.
The times I find myself nodding are when I’m stuck doing 50 in roadworks or the like.
On the limiter (or beyond) I can’t remember the last time I was doing the nodding dog.
TheUncaringCowboy:
dieseldog999:
theres plenty of drivers would fall asleep now and then being worked flat out ragged,but nowadays id say 99% of them now fall asleep constantly through utter boredom with scabby boring trucks,working for tosco and stobrats and similar plobber jobs on night trunks and the like.
the jobs being dumbed down with h&s,risk assesments and macdonalds type working practices its now just a paid from the neck down kebab meat on a seat wearing a hiviz and hardly surprising it bores drivers into a near catatonic state on a daily basis.The times I find myself nodding are when I’m stuck doing 50 in roadworks or the like.
On the limiter (or beyond) I can’t remember the last time I was doing the nodding dog.
Maybe you need to see a doctor before you cause an accident. Not being funny but going through roadworks at 50 you need to be fully alert as you do at all times.
Drivers that have fallen asleep or nearly fallen asleep need to have a serious think to themselves whether they should be doing the job.
It can get boring going up and down motorways but there are ways to stay alert as I am sure most know. Do them before it’s too late. 
I can’t help thinking that figure is on the low side. I have actually fallen asleep and that was the final push I needed to give up nights. Up on the bank one night before I woke up and another night I opened my eyes to see an AA/RAC van attending a breakdown about 75 yards ahead of me on the hard shoulder of the M4.
TiredAndEmotional:
I can’t help thinking that figure is on the low side. I have actually fallen asleep and that was the final push I needed to give up nights. Up on the bank one night before I woke up and another night I opened my eyes to see an AA/RAC van attending a breakdown about 75 yards ahead of me on the hard shoulder of the M4.
Self reporting of events is inaccurate to start with, even in an anonymous survey, so youre probably correct, the truth is higher. Cant find my way to the full survey results, so were stuck with someones interpretation of the figures.
If I can use your example T & E, if you were pushed for cash to pay the mortgage, you may kid yourself it wasnt a real problem, you may not feel it counts for this survey, you probably wouldnt even do the survey, as you wouldn`t want to look too closely at yourself.
However, we can see you are indeed a realistic person, who made the wise choice in giving up that night job, so are now happy to recognize it as being a problem at the time.
And tiredness isnt just about closing your eyes, either. Arent there studies out there saying tiredness results in increased aggressiveness? Aren`t tired people, including drivers, shorter tempered than rested happy ones? And tired people make all sorts of silly errors.
I would have thought the percentage would be much higher than 29% as well…considering the amount of hours a driver is required to work…the amount of hours he is actually working, and the lack of rest…it used to be fine when one could get a few ZZZs while being tipped..the problem i find, is the fact that 45 minutes is not enough to have something to eat, and have a nap..but as the signs say Feeling tired…have a break BUT how will bosses react..or are those signs only for car drivers ■■..And its all fine sayingGo see a doctor ` when you should know, that upon doing that, DVLA would be notified, and a driver faces losing his entitlement to drive, because DVLA will call it sleep apnea.
Btw, i still havnt received my licence since its been away from December…but slowly but surely…because i had a heart attack…i have to take a treadmill test every 3 years…i failed this one, because my legs couldnt fast walk for 8 minutes…but had to take another, a few weeks later… which is a drug induced one, and the consultant told me that this will be the norm, as the treadmill does not stress the heart enough, whereas the drug induced one stresses the heart only, and is more accurate…i did pass the dvla requirements for that test…what the consultant did say however was…Its not those who have been diagnosed…but those who have not…like some drivers i have seen getting into/out of their cabs…being grossly overweight…but continue anyway…or failing to report health issues, for fear of losing their licence.
Firstly they rightly point out the issue of reduced let alone consecutive reduced daily rest periods.When even 11 hours daily rest isn’t enough.
Which then suddenly turns into a supposed problem of it being all about the type of parking place.
Oh wait doing something about the hours regime would mean Unite obviously having to contradict its pro EU position.Muppets.
One would think that the “Life Changing Injury” that being diagnosed with Sleep Apoea amounts to - the industry would be a bit more sympathetic.
If we’re not careful otherwise - “Anyone getting ill - gets the bullet” will become the norm in the transport industry as a whole. 
Winseer:
Anyone getting ill - gets the bullet"[/i] will become the norm in the transport industry as a whole.
It’s nothing new and you can’t expect the employer to be responsible for the continuing employment of a no longer of any use to them employee.It’s up to the employee to cover themselves with the required income protection insurance for that eventuality.
Santa:
So says Unite news.motors.co.uk/statistics/mo … -to-unite/
There’s a really simple explanation for this, Santa. It’s a result of the drivers reading internet forum threads with titles like “getting closer to minimum wage”.
jakethesnake:
TheUncaringCowboy:
dieseldog999:
theres plenty of drivers would fall asleep now and then being worked flat out ragged,but nowadays id say 99% of them now fall asleep constantly through utter boredom with scabby boring trucks,working for tosco and stobrats and similar plobber jobs on night trunks and the like.
the jobs being dumbed down with h&s,risk assesments and macdonalds type working practices its now just a paid from the neck down kebab meat on a seat wearing a hiviz and hardly surprising it bores drivers into a near catatonic state on a daily basis.The times I find myself nodding are when I’m stuck doing 50 in roadworks or the like.
On the limiter (or beyond) I can’t remember the last time I was doing the nodding dog.
Maybe you need to see a doctor before you cause an accident. Not being funny but going through roadworks at 50 you need to be fully alert as you do at all times.
Drivers that have fallen asleep or nearly fallen asleep need to have a serious think to themselves whether they should be doing the job.
It can get boring going up and down motorways but there are ways to stay alert as I am sure most know. Do them before it’s too late.
Or maybe I should just keep it at 60, if plobbers and car clowns would keep out the way.
Carryfast:
Winseer:
Anyone getting ill - gets the bullet"[/i] will become the norm in the transport industry as a whole.It’s nothing new and you can’t expect the employer to be responsible for the continuing employment of a no longer of any use to them employee.It’s up to the employee to cover themselves with the required income protection insurance for that eventuality.
Ahh… But if only “critical illness cover” were available to cover one for the very ailments in question!
I think you’ll find the general insurance line is “What doesn’t kill you - we don’t pay out on”.
In the case of Sleep Apnoea - It won’t kill you once you’ve had your licence taken away. Thus, the only thing “dying” is your livlihood.
I had “payment protection insurance” back in the early 90s, before I knew it was a complete fiddle. I tried to make a claim around 1998, after spending a week in hospital (wages halved due to no overtime/allowances). Got told “Sorry bud, the first 8 days stay in hospital is the excess on this policy”. Even abdominal surgery - one would be out within a week.
“Well, what on Earth do I have to be ailed with that would qualify for me being in hospital longer than 7 days?” asks I…
“Well, there’s the Morgue, or major Brain or Heart surgery. Oncology treatments are not covered, nor are other ailments requiring long-term care”.
Basically, there wasn’t anything that would raise anywhere near the money I had paid in, let alone keep up my payments on credit cards as I had at that time.
“You could bring an action, if you don’t think this policy is fair”. 
Couldn’t afford to do that, so I just cut the cards up, and walked away from the lot. Let’s see them successfully sue me for non-payment, when the court gets told the reason why… 
They never did sue me. I never got petitioned for bankrupcty, and I never even got a court summons. The whole lot got written off, 5 figures worth of card debt.
I need not have ever bothered with the PPI of course.
I did forfeit the right many years later - to claim PPI payouts like a lot of others did, because I’d already effectively paid myself out. 
It’s really easy to see how we get such a bad name amongst other road users with the selfish uncaring attitude of some. 
You know when you become tired, it does not just come on instantly and you fall asleep just like that, it’s a gradual thing.
Simple really, if you get tired pull in and have a 10 to 15 power nap …■■■■ the hassle and the ‘why have you stopped’ calls that some of you get being safe comes before ANY load and booking time…end of.
dieseldog999:
kebab meat on a seat wearing a hiviz
pmsl… 
TheUncaringCowboy:
Or maybe I should just keep it at 60, if plobbers and car clowns would keep out the way.
Abba…knowing me knowing you…60 on the bang■■? and the [zb] rest…whooooossshhh…
robroy:
You know when you become tired, it does not just come on instantly and you fall asleep just like that, it’s a gradual thing.
Simple really, if you get tired pull in and have a 10 to 15 power nap
As one gets older, it’s easier to get sleepy with just a few minutes of sedentary inactivity, especially if one drinks, and works nights.
I noticed that on jobs where one is salaried, there’s not too much concern if one takes the full breaks - providing the vehicle isn’t due back for someone else to take it over.
But on agency? - The contracts state things like “Only stop for legally required breaks, and preferably take your breaks at depots”. Pulling into MSAs and Laybys - is frowned upon, because the TMs thing you’re somehow defrauding the firm by taking extra sneaky breaks not legally required, that then get booked as paid hours (…The trouble of docking 1hr off wages no matter how short the shift is, and no matter how much legally required break you take…)
Then there’s the stress of knowing some pootah freak is watching your every move on Isotrac, or other similar technology…
Got an incoming call on the hands-free once, because I’d turned off the M25 @ J15 and had gone towards J7/8 intending to go up towards Marlow… (On my way to Fradley Park)
“Erm. Because J16 is shut WB slip with a serious accident…”
“Why couldn’t you pull into Beaconsfield instead of a layby?”
"…erm, because the Mawlow junction has already passed the MSA by the time I re-join the M40 west again…
I didn’t get to work at that place again, needless to say - but I think they done me a favour, with ■■■■■■■■ like that, assuming they treat all their staff that way!
Personally I would never put up with that type of crap.
The way I see it is if someone is watching my every move on a tracker to that extent, they are either not doing their job or they have not got a proper job.
I choose my route and re.act to unforseens, that is MY job as a driver, not some jumped up little 2 at in an office.
They only do this because drivers do not tell them they are not putting up with it, so they get away with it, carry on and get worse.
If the job got as bad and as unbearable as that I would do a career move, it NEVER was like that,.and the job still got done.