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(Updated)
As the thanksgiving long weekend begins, the OPP kicked off a safety blitz.
They’re teaming up with police from across the country to raise awareness about the dangers of illegal driving. This weekend they’re looking for what they call the “big 4” — impaired, distracted, aggressive, and lack of seatbelts. The OPP say those are the main factors contributing to more than three quarters of road deaths this year.
OPP say the risk for the four factors can increase during a long weekend.
And a two-day vehicle safety blitz that targeted commercial trucks resulted in Halton police laying more than 300 charges. The 10th annual truck inspection blitz is aimed at getting unsafe vehicles off the road. Inspectors looked at everything from brakes to cargo and fuel. Police also made sure drivers had the appropriate paperwork to drive and handle the vehicles. Over the two days, Halton regional police and several detachments pulled over more than 400 trucks — nearly half were taken off the road.
If you have a lot of driving ahead of you this Thanksgiving weekend or are worried about getting a little turkey tired, new research says you should grab a cup of coffee instead of cranking your car radio. The new study out of McMaster University shows how caffeine is more helpful to sleepy drivers than loud music.
If you crank the rock and roll all night to combat fatigue behind the wheel you may want to re-think that strategy. Researchers at McMaster University say downing a double-double works better.
Mechanical engineering student Shixu Liu: “When you look at driving performance for example, the lane position and the variation of lane position. Also the steering wheel rate — you will when you use coffee as counter measure, you actually improved your driving performance. Music distracted drivers especially during the middle level of fatigue.”
Overall, the study found music works too, but it had a down side.
Shixu Liu: “Music distracted drivers, especially during the middle level of fatigue. But in the early stage, this effect is not significant.”
The study involved twenty people who were put through three-120 minute simulated driving sessions. After each one they were asked to rate their level of fatigue. Those who consumed caffeine did much better than those who cranked the tunes. Liu attributes that partially to the fact that caffeine stimulates the central nervous system.
It seems most drivers agree with the results.
“Loud music and pop.”
“Both. I use coffee and loud music.”
“Probably coffee. I hate to admit it but.”
Of course, they recommend not driving at all if you are over tired. But one reason they did this study is because they point out there’s a test for impaired driving, you can see someone using a cell phone when driving but fatigue is pretty hard to spot.
This gives drivers some things they can do to stay safe.
