The Brake survey featured 1,000 drivers, 78 per cent of whom put their faith in opening windows or listening to the radio to combat tiredness while driving. Road safety charities Brake and Green Flag estimate that 2.3million drivers have fallen asleep at the wheel in the past year. Few of those interviewed said they followed Government advice, which is to take a break every two hours, and pull over for a nap if you feel tired.
Falling asleep at the wheel accounts for 96 road deaths and many more injuries each year, and Brake have called for Government support to try and combat the ignorance revealed in the survey. The real number of deaths caused by tiredness is probably higher, because it is difficult prove the driver was asleep after the fact.
Road safety charities Brake and Green Flag want to see the Government invest in high-profile advertising campaigns about tired driving. An online information sheet is available on the Brake website.
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 4 3"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
![](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1 1"%3E%3C/svg%3E)