New Zealand roads are about to re-enter a dangerous window as schools return for term one.
A report from driver safety advocacy group AutoSense claims accidents linked to fatigue happen most between 7 and 8am, the hour children head to school.
CEO Charles Dawson says fatigue is driven by our body clock - and it can be dangerous.
"Any vehicle that has a human behind the wheel is going to be prone to this, it's all about our natural physiology."
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, parents, I've got one particularly for you, especially if
you do the kids school run. A new reporter has
found that the most dangerous time to be on the
roads is during school drop off in the morning. I
would have thought it's the afternoon, but it's the morning
because most driver fatigue events happen between seven and eight am.
Now Auto Sense, the guys behind the report and the
chief executive, Charles Dawson, is with us. Now, I bet
(00:22):
that happens to you all the time, Charles. Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good to be part of the evolution of the world.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Now listen. It seems counterintuitive because I would have thought
it would be happening in the afternoon. You know, seven am,
you've just woken up.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah. So look, at the end of the day, fatigue
is all about not having enough sleep. So anyone with
a new baby, or new children, or any of those
sorts of things, we'll understand that they don't get the
sleep through the night. So therefore they are going to
be tired in the morning.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Why in the morning, Why not in the afternoon. The
further you get away from that sleep.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, it's actually just all part of our natural circadian rhythm.
So the body is back in the days of Caveman.
We were away in the cave so that the sabertooth
tigers didn't get us. So sleeping at that stage and
then await during the day, So the circadian rhythm, the
various hormones and things that are produced changed during the day.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So seven am you still want to be asleep. Apparently
it's worse on Tuesdays.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Why, Look, I think that has a lot to do
with people recovering from the weekend. They get through Monday,
and then Tuesday they've done a night shift or something
along those lines. And often what we're talking about here
is people that have been driving from ten o'clock at
night through to that next morning in that space. But
at the end of the day, when the hormone that
(01:35):
causes sleep builds up in the bloodstream, we're going to
go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So you're telling me it's not the parents who are
the ones at risk of crashing, it's the other dudes
who've been on the road for several hours overnight who
were at risk of crashing into the parents.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, look, once again, it's actually any vehicle that has
a human behind the wheel is going to be praying
to this. It's all about our natural physiology.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, and then apparently worse also in August and September,
which I think probably makes sense because we're in that
we're getting and deep into the winter months. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Absolutely, And I mean there's also an interesting thing around
daylight savings coming in that sort of September period. Of
daylight savings is one of the most amazing experiments that
affect billions of people around the world, and there's a
great stats around it. There's twenty five percent increase in
cardiac arress the day of daylight savings, with right when
we lose that, there's a twenty five percent increase in
(02:23):
car crashes. It's massive that one hour of sleep makes
a massive difference.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Is that right? Okay? Now, what do we do about it?
I mean, never mind the daylight saving because we're never
going to fix that, but what do we do about
this problem that's happening between seven and eight.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I guess it's like any it's a health thing. Really,
it's like the epidemic around obesity and those sorts of things.
It's all about education. This is the first time in
the last little bit that we've started to understand what's
actually happening inside a vehicle. We're very lucky. In vehicles,
the driver has to sit behind the steering wheel so
that the camera can pick up what's happening to them.
(02:58):
That allows us, if they do sleep, to wake them up.
But what we're now starting to be able to measure
is actually the impairment, So not just that they fall asleep,
but that period of an hour or so before that
they've been super super tired. In fact, what we see
as figures of impairment that is very similar to that
of alcohol. So you know, you think what happens to
(03:19):
here if you get caught at over the legal limit
of alcohol, Well, that's the same cognitive state that you're right.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, I mean you're making a case for you know how,
you have some of those drugs that cause drowsiness, Like
you'll have some pain killers, particularly the nerve blockers. You
have things like antidepression drugs cause drowsiness during the day.
So if what you're saying is right that drowsiness is
the same as having an alcohol impact, then those drugs
are potentially quite dangerous for people who are driving.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Absolutely, and there's a whole heap of them that if
you take them in combination with something else, you would
actually fail a drug.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Test the combination with what like alcohol the night before.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah. Yeah, so there's I mean I don't know that
the complete details, but there are lists of things that
a should statins and whatever you shouldn't take together, and
it's something that most people aren't aware.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Of statins and what.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm just trying to build a case against my husband
right now because he's on the status and I'm sure
there's some micro sleeps happening. By the way, have you
ever been in one of those cars that does the
fatigued test on you when you're driving that like has
the cameras turned on you?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that's the that's the product that we actually discreute,
which is where these numbers are coming from.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So so like the BYD for example, has that.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, but these are these are a retrofitted camera the
people that supply ours.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Which it's annoying though, can I say that, Charles, because
it was driving the b y D and it was like,
you need to pull over your yawning and I was like, no,
I'm just singing Bohemian Rhapsody And.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You don't necessarily you're not necessarily tired when you're yawning,
Like if you're yawning, you might be brought. So the
technology is not not all created again, I guess. So
the whole thing with the technology that we're working with
now is being able to pick up andpment. We're going
to be able to pick up alcohol adtection. But the
key thing is only picking it up when it's when
it's real interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Okay, Hey, thank you very much. I really appre shared
at Charles. Thanks for talking us written, Thanks for here
it is.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Do you wanna have a craik?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Maybe not today, Okay, you're come in another time you
can do it. Thanks Chiles, appreciate it. Charles Dawin, I'm
having a micro sleep while we're on here. What the
hell's going on? Charles Dawson, He's never going to live
this down, Auto seems, Chief executive. For more from Hither
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be
(05:26):
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Now, parents, I've got one particularly for you, especially if
you do the kids school run. A new reporter has
found that the most dangerous time to be on the
roads is during school drop off in the morning. I
would have thought it's the afternoon, but it's the morning
because most driver fatigue events happen between seven and eight am.
Now Auto Sense, the guys behind the report and the
chief executive, Charles Dawson, is with us. Now, I bet
(00:22):
that happens to you all the time, Charles. Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good to be part of the evolution of the world.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
Now listen. It seems counterintuitive because I would have thought
it would be happening in the afternoon. You know, seven am,
you've just woken up.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Yeah. So look, at the end of the day, fatigue
is all about not having enough sleep. So anyone with
a new baby, or new children, or any of those
sorts of things, we'll understand that they don't get the
sleep through the night. So therefore they are going to
be tired in the morning.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Why in the morning, Why not in the afternoon. The
further you get away from that sleep.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Well, it's actually just all part of our natural circadian rhythm.
So the body is back in the days of Caveman.
We were away in the cave so that the sabertooth
tigers didn't get us. So sleeping at that stage and
then await during the day, So the circadian rhythm, the
various hormones and things that are produced changed during the day.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
So seven am you still want to be asleep. Apparently
it's worse on Tuesdays.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Why, Look, I think that has a lot to do
with people recovering from the weekend. They get through Monday,
and then Tuesday they've done a night shift or something
along those lines. And often what we're talking about here
is people that have been driving from ten o'clock at
night through to that next morning in that space. But
at the end of the day, when the hormone that
(01:35):
causes sleep builds up in the bloodstream, we're going to
go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
So you're telling me it's not the parents who are
the ones at risk of crashing, it's the other dudes
who've been on the road for several hours overnight who
were at risk of crashing into the parents.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, look, once again, it's actually any vehicle that has
a human behind the wheel is going to be praying
to this. It's all about our natural physiology.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, and then apparently worse also in August and September,
which I think probably makes sense because we're in that
we're getting and deep into the winter months. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Absolutely, And I mean there's also an interesting thing around
daylight savings coming in that sort of September period. Of
daylight savings is one of the most amazing experiments that
affect billions of people around the world, and there's a
great stats around it. There's twenty five percent increase in
cardiac arress the day of daylight savings, with right when
we lose that, there's a twenty five percent increase in
(02:23):
car crashes. It's massive that one hour of sleep makes
a massive difference.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Is that right? Okay? Now, what do we do about it?
I mean, never mind the daylight saving because we're never
going to fix that, but what do we do about
this problem that's happening between seven and eight.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
I guess it's like any it's a health thing. Really,
it's like the epidemic around obesity and those sorts of things.
It's all about education. This is the first time in
the last little bit that we've started to understand what's
actually happening inside a vehicle. We're very lucky. In vehicles,
the driver has to sit behind the steering wheel so
that the camera can pick up what's happening to them.
(02:58):
That allows us, if they do sleep, to wake them up.
But what we're now starting to be able to measure
is actually the impairment, So not just that they fall asleep,
but that period of an hour or so before that
they've been super super tired. In fact, what we see
as figures of impairment that is very similar to that
of alcohol. So you know, you think what happens to
(03:19):
here if you get caught at over the legal limit
of alcohol, Well, that's the same cognitive state that you're right.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, I mean you're making a case for you know how,
you have some of those drugs that cause drowsiness, Like
you'll have some pain killers, particularly the nerve blockers. You
have things like antidepression drugs cause drowsiness during the day.
So if what you're saying is right that drowsiness is
the same as having an alcohol impact, then those drugs
are potentially quite dangerous for people who are driving.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Absolutely, and there's a whole heap of them that if
you take them in combination with something else, you would
actually fail a drug.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Test the combination with what like alcohol the night before.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah. Yeah, so there's I mean I don't know that
the complete details, but there are lists of things that
a should statins and whatever you shouldn't take together, and
it's something that most people aren't aware.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Of statins and what.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
I'm just trying to build a case against my husband
right now because he's on the status and I'm sure
there's some micro sleeps happening. By the way, have you
ever been in one of those cars that does the
fatigued test on you when you're driving that like has
the cameras turned on you?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Yeah, that's the that's the product that we actually discreute,
which is where these numbers are coming from.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
So so like the BYD for example, has that.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, but these are these are a retrofitted camera the
people that supply ours.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Which it's annoying though, can I say that, Charles, because
it was driving the b y D and it was like,
you need to pull over your yawning and I was like, no,
I'm just singing Bohemian Rhapsody And.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
You don't necessarily you're not necessarily tired when you're yawning,
Like if you're yawning, you might be brought. So the
technology is not not all created again, I guess. So
the whole thing with the technology that we're working with
now is being able to pick up andpment. We're going
to be able to pick up alcohol adtection. But the
key thing is only picking it up when it's when
it's real interesting.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Okay, Hey, thank you very much. I really appre shared
at Charles. Thanks for talking us written, Thanks for here
it is.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Do you wanna have a craik?
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Maybe not today, Okay, you're come in another time you
can do it. Thanks Chiles, appreciate it. Charles Dawin, I'm
having a micro sleep while we're on here. What the
hell's going on? Charles Dawson, He's never going to live
this down, Auto seems, Chief executive. For more from Hither
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be
(05:26):
from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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