Researchers at The University of Sydney have discovered that drinking caffeinated drinks could have a positive effect on commercial drivers, helping them to stay awake during long journeys, thereby improving road safety.
Although caffeine’s benefit in fatigue management has been a contentious issue in the past, the new study shows once and for all that caffeine is good for fighting fatigue on a long journey but not good for a long term fatigue management programme which is the ideal.
The researchers at the University of Sydney found data proved that commercial drivers who use caffeine based products to stay awake and alert were significantly less likely to crash than those who did not. This is regardless of the fact that they drove longer distances and slept less than drivers who didn’t consumer any caffeine.
Read an excerpt below from a post on www.dailytelegraph.com.au:
Larry Berwick has been driving trucks for 24 years and starts every morning with a cup of coffee.
“I’ve driven close to two million kilometres,” he said.
“I have a coffee in the morning and a can of coke during the day.
“If you pull into a truck stop you’ll see all the discarded cans of energy drinks and coke.
“But they should also all be careful. It’s up to the actual individual driver to manage their fatigue.”
The study, led by Lisa Sharwood from the University’s The George Institute, was conducted between 2008 and 2011 in NSW and West Australia on long-distance drivers whose vehicle mass was at least 12 tonnes.
The study compared 530 drivers who crashed their vehicles while on long-distance trips with 517 drivers who had not had a crash in the previous year.
It found drivers who consumed caffeine to help them stay awake were 63 per cent less likely to crash than drivers who did not consume the caffeinated substances.
Larry Berwick has been driving trucks for 24 years and starts every morning with a cup of coffee.Researchers concluded from the evidence that consuming caffeinated substances can significantly reduce the likelihood of crashes for long distance truckies which in turn has huge implications for the road safety and can aid in improving fatigue management strategies, not only for truckies but people in similar positions as well.
One thing that researchers did caution about was that caffeine’s benefit was only to be used short term and cannot replace proper fatigue management such as regular breaks, napping and reasonable work schedules.
Some participants in the study were consuming way too much caffeine, around 10 energy drinks a day or a few litres of coke but researchers warn that this is not the way to fight fatigue in the long run. In fact using caffeinated drinks over a period of time may have a negative effect on the person’s health.
Also researchers warned that when you come down from the caffeine high it is going to be difficult to sleep which will affect your sleeping patterns and therefore maybe compound the problem of fatigue. Ultimately researchers say while caffeine occasionally to stay awake may be useful, it is no replacement for good quality sleep.
Peter Cutforth is a Director at Urban E-Learning, a global elearning and web strategy firm based in George St Brisbane. Peter's interests extend to training, safety and compliance, online marketing, and Mobile Apps.
