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Fatigue is an important factor in serious road crashes

Fatigue, alcohol, and serious road crashes in France: factorial study of national data

Editorial: Fatigue: time to recognise and deal with an old problem

Fatigue, especially when combined with alcohol, presents a particularly high risk of road crashes resulting in death or serious injury, finds a study in this week's BMJ.

Data from the French Ministry of Transport was used to investigate the role of fatigue in serious, single-vehicle crashes during 1994-8. About 10% of the crashes were related to fatigue and 23% to alcohol. The risk of death and severe injury was highest when alcohol and fatigue were combined.

During the daytime, fatigue, distraction and weekend (versus weekday) were significant factors associated with non-alcohol related crashes resulting in death. However, for alcohol related crashes resulting in death, only fatigue was significant.

There was also a strong relation between time of day and cause of crash, with many alcohol related crashes occurring at night, say the authors. Given that crashes related to fatigue can be difficult to identify, police officers are likely to attribute such crashes only to alcohol, even when fatigue is present, they conclude.

Contact:

Pierre Philip, Consultant, Clinique du Sommeil, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Bordeaux, France Email: pierrephilip@compuserve.com

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