As part of my health class to learn about road safety issues, we were tasked to plan a road safety campaign. This was made up of research and making something to communicate a message for the campaign. I had chosen the issue of fatigue amongst young drivers.

Some of the biggest things I have learnt through this task is that fatigue is a road safety issue that occurs often in young drivers, some of the causes of fatigue and some strategies against them.

Researched statistics state that young drivers account for two thirds of all fatigue related crashes in Australia, and about 43% of those young drivers reported driving tired at least once a week. Driving when you haven’t slept for more than 17 hours is said to have the same effect as driving under the effect of alcohol.

Causes of fatigue include being awake for more than 16 hours, lack of quality sleep, and driving during a time when your body is usually asleep. For strategies, it’s important to note the signs of fatigue such as when you microsleep. Microsleep is often known as ‘nodding off’ and your brain switches off momentarily. Other signals include being quite distracted, sore or heavy eyes, constant yawning, and delayed or slower reactions.

While fatigue may not seem to be a major issue that results in major accidents reported online like when drivers are under alcohol use, it is an issue that occurs often in young drivers and can result in many accidents. A piece of advice is to ensure you notice the signs of when you are fatigued and make sure you don’t drive when you are.  

I will commit to crossing off a checklist made up of signs of when you shouldn’t drive. This would include all fatigue related symptoms, effects of alcohol, and other road safety issues. The checklist will be kept in the car and easily accessed to before driving. It is a useful method and easy to stick habit to prevent future car accidents.

Below is a poster I made to communicate the issue of fatigue using Adobe Photoshop. A digital poster was made so that it could be put onto social media apps and websites such as vehicle shops and driving blog posts. The text message element in the poster is also used as many young people message each other and during the night. This is a good way to deliver the message as many young people use social media and will likely see the poster as they scroll through. Eye catching elements and a message that can be interpreted within 5 seconds (the amount of attention people pay to posters they scan through) makes the message memorable. The poster can also be formatted to be displayed as a banner in subscription based tv services like Netflix and Disney+ as many young people spend their free time watching tv shows for at least an hour each day.