Driver fitness

Be certain you are fit before you drive. If you feel physically or mentally unfit, stay off the road, and do not take an unfit driver into complicated traffic to find out.

Tiredness lengthens your reactions and narrows your attention, so a tired driver sees a hazard late or not at all. Do not begin a journey already tired, and sleep properly before a long one. Avoid long journeys at night, which cost more concentration than the same distance by day. Plan a long trip with real breaks in it. If you begin to feel sleepy, pull off the road somewhere safe, stop and rest. Nothing else restores you: opening a window or turning up the radio buys a few minutes, not alertness.

You need to see clearly to drive. If glasses or contact lenses are prescribed for you, wear them every time you take the wheel. Keep the windscreen, windows and mirrors clean, because a dirty screen scatters light and blinds you at night. Do not wear anything after dark that darkens your view unless it has been prescribed for night vision. In sun glare, use the visor and sunglasses, and if you are dazzled, slow down and stop where you cannot see.

Narcotic drugs and alcohol impair judgement, and you must not drive under the influence of either. Alcohol gives a false confidence while it slows your reactions, dulls co-ordination and corrupts your sense of speed, distance and risk. It leaves the body slowly, so a driver can still be unfit the evening after a drink at lunchtime, or the morning after a night out. The safe course is not to drink at all when you are going to drive. If you are going to drink, arrange another way home before you start.

Many prescribed and over the counter medicines cause drowsiness. Read the instructions on the pack, and ask your doctor or pharmacist whether it is safe to drive on what you have been given.

Your state of mind counts too. A driver who has just had an argument is not in full control of their temper, and the road is a poor place to discover that.