Nearly half of all commercial vehicle accidents happen in the first two hours of a driver’s shift, according to new research from insurance provider NZI.
The finding comes from the analysis of nearly 17,000 commercial vehicle claims and data spanning five years.
NZI national motor manager Oliver Jepson says that while 93% of New Zealand’s freight is transported via road, it also seems that COVID-19 has continued New Zealand’s reliance on commercial vehicles, particularly trucks that transport the nation’s freight, maintaining supermarket and medical supply stocks.
“Around 48% of accidents happen during the first two hours of a driver’s shift. Our analysis shows that fatigue has a role to play in these situations – particularly if a driver has suffered from poor sleep prior to the shift.”
Jepson says that one of the ways in which NZI’s Fleet Fit programme is taking a preventative approach to driver fatigue is by encouraging the introduction of the ‘Guardian’ driver monitoring initiative by technology company, Seeing Machines.
The technology monitors the driver’s eyes and head pose. If the driver’s eyes close for 1.5 seconds – and/or the head pose is not focused on the road for four seconds – an audible alarm is triggered and the driver’s seat vibrates, to alert the driver in real time.
NZI customer and Gisborne truck driver and fleet operator Mahana Stone says the technology has already prevented a serious crash.
“Recently we had an alert when one of our drivers actually nodded off at the wheel.
“Without [this technology] waking the driver, there’s no doubt in my mind he could have been seriously hurt,” Stone says.
