FATAL ACCIDENTS AMONG CAR AND TRUCK DRIVERS - EFFECTS OF FATIGUE, AGE, AND ALCOHOL-CONSUMPTION

Fatigue increases the risk of an accident if the driver, on recognizin g symptoms of fatigue, does not stop driving. We studied whether a ten dency to continue the current activity and complete the task especiall y affects younger drivers, who are more susceptible to motivational pr essures at the wheel in general. The data consisted of Finnish in-dept h studies on 586 single-vehicle and 1357 multiple-vehicle accidents in which at least one vehicle occupant died. When excluding alcohol-rela ted cases, the results showed that, first, trailer-truck drivers who e ither fell asleep or were tired to a degree that contributed to the ac cident were younger than those involved in the other fatalities. For c ar drivers, the proportion of fatigue-related cases was approximately constant in each age group, but a variation was seen when studied acco rding to the time of day of the accident, mainly resulting from two di stinct peaks. The first was in young drivers 18 to 20 years old betwee n midnight and 6:00 a.m. The other occurred in drivers 56 years and ol der during the late afternoon hours. These data also indicate that in terms of fatal accidents, fatigue and alcohol seem to be less of a pro blem for truckers than for car drivers.