Interesting article in my local paper today
The study, conducted by the Unite workers’ union, questioned over 4,000 lorry drivers and found the shocking number who admit to having fallen asleep on the road. Of those who admitted to nodding off, 64.4 per cent blamed their work for their fatigue, citing long days and insufficient provision for rest.
“The findings of this survey are profoundly shocking,” said Unite national officer Adrian Jones. “People’s lives are being put at risk due to a lack of welfare facilities and workers being forced to work excessive hours. Companies are continually forcing drivers to work longer, as they are obsessed with the ‘just in time’ delivery model. This can inevitably lead to tragic consequences.”
Adrian Jones: “People’s lives are being put at risk due to a lack of welfare facilities and workers being forced to work excessive hours” | Lorry drivers’ lives being placed in danger due to long hours and lack of facilities, Unite warns
Jones added: “Driver welfare should be a company’s first priority, not just an afterthought.”
Accidents involving lorries are almost twice as likely to result in fatalities as other road collisions. In 2015, 24 per cent of injuries resulting from collisions with HGVs were serious or fatal, compared with just 13 per cent for smaller vehicles. The Loughborough Sleep Research centre notes that falling asleep at the wheel accounts for around 20 per cent of serious collisions on motorways and similar roads – rising to almost 50 per cent of collisions on UK motorways between 2am and 6am.
Drivers reported that employers are increasingly looking to extract the maximum working hours legally permissible. In most cases, this means drivers can work a 15-hour day with 10 hours of those driving. This means they have just nine hours of rest before starting work again.
Shifts such as these can occur on two consecutive days, and drivers report that they’re left exhausted. The problem is compounded by a lack of appropriate truck stops.
Unite’s drivers, responding to the survey, said they often had a poor night’s sleep when forced to remain in the cab. Respondents said they still felt drowsy, tired and exhausted after a night in the cab at the side of the road (65 per cent) in a layby (67 per cent) or in the car park of a service station (62 per cent).
The Union notes that while policies surrounding truck stops are created by the Department for Transport, building and maintaining them falls to local governments.
Driver welfare should be a company’s first priority, not just an afterthought.
Jones said: “It doesn’t take a genius to work out that if drivers are regularly sleeping in their cabs tiredness will become a major hazard. Yet virtually nothing is being done to tackle this problem. The government must take the lead and require all local authorities to provide truck stops to meet local requirements. The authorities can’t be allowed to continue to pretend it is someone else’s problem.
The Road Haulage Association, which represents lorry drivers, said: “Every day truckers across the country are forced to park in laybys and industrial estates so they don’t exceed legal hours because there’s nowhere else for them to go.
“The Government and local authorities are still not doing anywhere near enough to ensure drivers have the facilities they deserve to rest properly and safely before getting back on the road.”
Interesting, nothing will change though, no new truck stops will be built. I would say that the public won’t care until someone is killed, but they won’t care even then as has been proven time and time again.
What’s the solution? Further complicate the already ridiculous driving hours? Make the process of getting a hgv licence even more expensive? Or just jail the poor bugger who was unfortunate enough to doze off for a minute in a traffic jam after working 87.5 hours? Or jail the driver who was too drowsy to react to a brake check by some Audi (it’s always Audi or BMW’s isn’t it?)
At least he will get a good nights sleep in jail, problem solved.
Maybe the answer is amphetamines in the drinking cooler? Compulsory cocaine breaks?
(That was sarcasm by the way, there’s no way they would give it away free)
Drivers reported that employers are increasingly looking to extract the maximum working hours legally permissible. In most cases, this means drivers can work a 15-hour day with 10 hours of those driving. This means they have just nine hours of rest before starting work again.
Shifts such as these can occur on two consecutive days, and drivers report that they’re left exhausted. The problem is compounded by a lack of appropriate truck stops.
i think some one should read up on the regulations…only twice a week eh !!
Was better when we could get our heads down whilst being tipped, instead of having to sit in a shed…or a freezing cold warehouse !!
Most companies are pushing their drivers to the max…its about time we had a 12 on and 12 off system.
I note this report states drivers having to sleep in their cabs, in a layby, dont sleep so good…of course they dont…because theyre built next to main roads…we lack the facilities in this country, with many employers refusing to pay for decent facilities for their drivers ( this should be law )…and the government needs to get a grip and build more decent parking…( like the aires in france for eg ) with toilets and fresh water…and NO private vehicles allowed, and cameras installed.
jbaz73:
Maybe the answer is amphetamines in the drinking cooler? Compulsory cocaine breaks?(That was sarcasm by the way, there’s no way they would give it away free)
Correct.
If it was given away they couldn’t tax it 
I 100% agree with you. 12hrs through the door, out the door. Still, it might make the regulations easier to understand for new drivers. And we can’t have that, can we.
truckyboy:
Drivers reported that employers are increasingly looking to extract the maximum working hours legally permissible. In most cases, this means drivers can work a 15-hour day with 10 hours of those driving. This means they have just nine hours of rest before starting work again.Shifts such as these can occur on two consecutive days, and drivers report that they’re left exhausted. The problem is compounded by a lack of appropriate truck stops.
i think some one should read up on the regulations…only twice a week eh !!
snip
You can only drive 10 hours twice a week
We have to remember that the average age of a driver is in the low 50s ,it follows that there are a fair few 70 year old men still driving fairly long shifts.
Whilst the hours that we can legally be at work for are quite frankly ridiculous given the immense potential for disaster a tired driver and 40 odd tonne of momentum can cause in my mind the biggest problem is how little recuperation time we are permitted legally to have between these shifts. IMO until we go to a 12 on 12 off shift pattern we will continue to see totally avoidable carnage.
Before the pedants jump in with “well if you’re tired have more time off” I totally agree with them, my point was that the law allows as little as 9 hours off between shifts.
Tm: hello, x logistics
Me: hello it’s ■■■, I know I was due to start at 5 this morning, but I’m tired, so I won’t be in till 11
Tm: #%^% #%%# #^^*%## and don’t come back
Can you see a problem here?
Wasn’t the WTD supposed to sort all this out? You know, people were working too many hours, so a regulation was made to restrict the hours people could work, then POA became a thing, AFAIK only in transport and nothing changed at all, except now there is another thing you can get into trouble over.
On the other side of the coin and the world for that matter, in Canada you can legally work 70hrs in 7days and either reset that with a 36hr break or work 13days straight with the 70/7 rolling so you never exceed 70 in 7. Oh you get a 16hr spread over every day too and you can drive for 13hrs every day as long as you don’t go over 70. The drivers here look like crap, old before their time, that workload is not good for the mind or the body.
But, like earning lots of money, anybody that starts a career driving a lorry has to be a bit on the dim side of they expect a 9to5 job, overworked and underpaid is the way of the transport world, the only thing that could have changed this was union involvement, but that ship sailed a long long time ago.
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Guess it’s the same the world over, truckers over here get old before their time too.
The problem with the driving regulations are that they have to accommodate Europe tramping, say 1 drop with 3 days to get there. Also the same rules apply to a multi drop driver doing 100 drops and 20 collections running his arse off all day. If you cut the hours down to suit the multi drop driver, the tramper will complain because he could comfortably be doing more. If every day was a 15 hr day to suit the tramper, the poor old multi drop driver will have 150 drops and 50 collections a day and the bosses will say if you don’t want the work, there are plenty that do.
As a driver, I could design a set of rules but I’m not a politician so what’s the point.
^^^^ the only flaw in that is that a Euro trapper driving for 3 days to get to his drop will rarely exceed 12 hours duty time per day, sometimes as short as a ten hour day.
Exactly my point. Whereas the multi drop driver may clock up a 15hr day, only using 4 1/2 hrs driving if he is on locals.
70+ weekly hours legal?
9 hours off after 15 hour working days?
…and drivers are falling asleep ? 
■■■■ me ! …Who would have thought it eh?
What’s the next big scoop headline?
''Footballers are on too much money at 100 grand a week, and are wasting much of it ‘’
I normally don’t approve of these things but Pilot truck stops here sell small chocolate squares that supply energy, they cost a dollar and believe me the little sods work !!!.. Feeling weary one morning I thought I would try one, I think that 15 minutes later I could have run a marathon.
I had 9 hours last night,but still needed a power nap…before pub tonight.
Sleep is one of the most healthy things you can do.
Get plenty.
I run on an 18/20hrs awake, 6/8hrs asleep pattern, but I seldom use an alarm and wake up naturally, when I do wake up to an alarm I feel like crap most of the day and will quite often need to grab an hour in the afternoon. I’m fortunate that the work I do allows me to run in a way that it doesn’t become an issue, I don’t think I would cope very well with a regular timetable.
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jbaz73:
Interesting, nothing will change though, no new truck stops will be built. I would say that the public won’t care until someone is killed, but they won’t care even then as has been proven time and time again.What’s the solution? Further complicate the already ridiculous driving hours? Make the process of getting a hgv licence even more expensive? Or just jail the poor bugger who was unfortunate enough to doze off for a minute in a traffic jam after working 87.5 hours? Or jail the driver who was too drowsy to react to a brake check by some Audi (it’s always Audi or BMW’s isn’t it?)
At least he will get a good nights sleep in jail, problem solved.
I’m always amazed that no brake checker has been rear-ended by an asleep driver at high enough speed to kill the idiot in front outright on impact…