Fatigue and Defensive Driving

Overview

At a Glance: Fatigue is a major cause of death on NSW roads, and sleep is the only real cure. Defensive driving means leaving yourself time and space to react. In good conditions that’s a 3-second gap to the car ahead, and 4 seconds or more in poor conditions.

This topic is about attitude as much as rules. The DKT wants to see that you understand tiredness and following distance. It also checks that you know how to adjust for rain, fog and darkness, and how to stay calm when other drivers don’t. Most questions describe a situation and ask for the safest response.

Fatigue

Why It Matters

Fatigue slows your reactions and dulls your concentration and judgement. The handbook quotes research showing that being awake for about 17 hours affects your driving about as much as a BAC of 0.05. That’s the legal limit for a full licence holder. For learner and P drivers, whose limit is zero, the comparison makes clear how dangerous tired driving is.

Key Fact: The risk of a fatal fatigue-related crash is about four times higher late at night and early in the morning, when your body naturally wants to sleep.

Early Warning Signs

Learn these, because the DKT often asks you to spot them:

• yawning;
• sore or tired eyes;
• poor concentration;
• restlessness or boredom;
• slow reactions;
• missing road signs;
• drifting in your lane.

Microsleeps

A microsleep is a short, unplanned loss of consciousness. It can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. At 100 km/h, even a few seconds means travelling a long way with no one in control. Signs include your head nodding or snapping up, and your eyes closing for more than a couple of seconds. If you wait for a microsleep before you stop, you’ve left it too late.

What Actually Works

• Get a good night’s sleep before a long drive. Most people need about 8 hours.
• Plan regular breaks, even if you don’t feel tired, and share the driving if you can.
• As soon as you notice signs of fatigue, pull over somewhere safe. A nap of about 20 minutes works best.
• Avoid fatty foods and too much coffee, and drink water.
• Don’t drive at times when you’d normally be asleep.

Loud music, cold air and an open window might make you feel more alert for a few minutes. They don’t remove fatigue.

Following Distance and Braking

The Crash Avoidance Space

An alert driver needs about 1.5 seconds to notice a hazard and another 1.5 seconds or so to react, so the minimum gap in good conditions is 3 seconds. To check your gap, pick a fixed object, such as a pole. When the car ahead passes it, count the seconds until you reach it.

Conditions	Minimum gap
Good conditions, normal speed	3 seconds
Rain, wet roads, fog, night, gravel or unsealed roads	4 seconds or more
Higher speeds	At least 5 seconds

Measuring your gap in car lengths doesn’t work, because the distance you need grows quickly with speed.

Braking Technique

The handbook teaches two-stage braking:

1. Put light pressure on the pedal and pause to set up the brakes.
2. Squeeze, gradually increasing the pressure to what you need.

This gives you better control and less chance of skidding, especially on wet or gravel roads. Braking hard all at once can lock the wheels.

Wet Weather, Fog and Night

• Rain: turn your headlights on, slow down, brake gently and increase your gap to 4 seconds or more. Your tyres have less grip when the road is wet.
• Fog: use fog lights if you have them, or low beam if you don’t. Slow down and increase your gap. Hazard lights may be used in thick fog. High beam is not what the handbook recommends in fog.
• Night: increase your gap to 4 seconds or more. When you first practise at night, drive on roads you know well.
• Dazzle: if oncoming headlights dazzle you, look towards the left side of the road and keep left in your lane. Slow down or stop until your eyes recover.

DKT Tip: When a question lists a poor condition such as rain, fog, night or gravel and asks about following distance, the answer is almost always “4 seconds or more”. When a question stresses higher speed, look for “at least 5 seconds”.

Observation and Attitude

Scanning

Keep your eyes moving. Look at one area for a couple of seconds, then move on. Check the distance ahead, the road surface, both sides and your mirrors and instruments. If you only look at the car in front, or only far ahead, you’ll miss hazards.

Pulling Out

Before pulling out from the kerb, indicate for at least 5 seconds, check your mirrors, then look over your shoulder. The head check comes last because mirrors don’t show your blind spots.

Staying Calm

If another driver frightens you or behaves aggressively, stay calm and don’t respond. Road rage is dangerous and illegal. Using your horn to intimidate someone, or following them, makes things worse.

You decide your speed, not your passengers. Young drivers have a higher crash risk when they carry friends of a similar age, especially at night. Build your skills on quiet roads in daylight before you take on busier roads and harder conditions.

Test what you’ve learned with the Fatigue and Defensive Driving quiz.

Common Mistakes on the DKT

• Picking “turn up the music” or “open the window” as a fatigue fix. Only rest and sleep work.
• Choosing a 2-second gap. The minimum in good conditions is 3 seconds.
• Using high beam in fog or rain. Use low beam or fog lights instead.
• Looking at the centre line when dazzled. Look to the left side of the road.
• Thinking short, daytime trips are safe from fatigue. Fatigue can affect you on any trip.
• Braking hard in one go. Use two-stage braking: light pressure first, then squeeze.