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Jonathan Crouch Looks at How Road Accidents Can Be Avoided. Through Careful Planning, Through Correct Seating, Through High Technology & Through Crash-Proof Design

In a recent independent survey, an alarming one on ten motorists admitted to having momentarily fallen asleep at the wheel. If like me, you do a lot of motorway miles, you won’t have any trouble believing that. Driving when tired obviously increases the risk of an accident, and according to the DETR (Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions), driver fatigue is the principal factor in 10% of all road accidents. Nevertheless, only 17% of motorists in the survey said they take a break on a long journey because they feel tired.

It seems that half the drivers questioned choose to combat tiredness by opening a window, chatting to passengers or turning up the radio. I’ve done it myself and it doesn’t really work. Experts will tell you that stopping to take a short walk is definitely a better idea. In fact, the DETR recommends drivers take a short break of 15 minutes after every two hours of driving: how many of us do that?

However, the best way to ensure you stay healthy on a long drive is to, first of all, make sure you’re not tired before you set off, take regular breaks on the way and, if you do feel drowsy, stop in a safe place - not the hard shoulder - and have a short nap.

Another source of driving fatigue is poorly designed seating. According to a study by the Osteopathic Information Service, 80% of motorists suffer from back pain and one in four will suffer at worst, permanent discomfort from driving in a poor position. But the importance being placed by new car buyers on the support the driver’s seat offers is alarmingly low, with as few as 30% of people questioned having taken it into consideration when choosing their new car.

Correct seating while driving is imperative to help prevent the spine and muscles from being placed under continuous stress. However many cars do not provide the support that is needed to achieve this, particularly as everybody has different ergonomic needs depending on their physical form.

To help prevent the fatigue and back pain caused by bad posture when driving, expert advice suggests: Don’t slouch and try to keep your back straight.

On long journeys stretch both arms out over the centre of the steering wheel and wiggle you fingers to help relax key muscles from time to time. Ensure you are positioned for maximum comfort - your hips and knees should be well flexed, with arms relaxed and bent to the wheel.

Alternatively you could install a specialist seat in your car. Sports seat makers Recaro have, for example, launched something called the Orthopaed to the British market. This seat has been designed to alleviate problems caused by prolonged sitting and poor posture and works by providing support for the lumbar vertebrae - the curved sections of the lower spine, which needs special support when a driver is in a seated position.

When using the Recaro Orthopaed, weight is evenly distributed leaving the vertebrae and muscles relaxed - an important consideration if you want to prevent injuries and prevent fatigue on long journeys.

You can take all these measures of course – buy the right seat, take plenty of respite stops, everything – but there’s no accounting for the unexpected. Or is there? Car maker Nissan reckons new technology could provide extra safeguards on our ever more dangerous roads. They’re now developing systems that can predict when a driver is about to make a dangerous manoeuvre, such as overtaking into oncoming traffic.