Summer Driving
Driving in the summer introduces specific hazards including more details on road journeying to holiday destinations, more agricultural vehicles, more cyclists and more vehicles on busy holiday routes. We include a few issues here for you to consider.
Hay Fever and Allergies
The symptoms of hay fever give a real distraction for drivers so here are some tips for allergy sufferers:
- Use antihistamines that do not cause drowsiness such as cetirizine
- Keep a ready supply of tissues at hand
- Wear sun glasses to keep the pollen from the eyes
- Keep a bottle of water handy to prevent dehydration
- Use your air conditioning and keep windows closed to stop pollen blowing into the vehicle.
- Look out for pollen counts on weather reports
- Use ionisers in the vehicle cab and vacuum the vehicle interior on a regular basis
Fatigue Management
We can feel fatigued when driving in warm weather so as well as complying with time management requirements for commercial vehicles, the following advice is relevant:
- Take a break at least after every two hours of driving.
- Break for at least 15 minutes and think about drinking a cup of strong coffee.
- Avoid eating a heavy meal before driving and chew some gum to stop the yawning.
Don’t Forget the Shades
Wearing sunglasses is an important step to protect your eyes from the glare of the sun in the winter as well as the summer. If you need to have your eyesight corrected, make sure you have sunglasses with corrected lenses too. Remember that some sunglasses are not suitable for driving in due to the amount of light they let through. Class 1, 2 and 3 lenses are ok for use in the day and Class 0 have no restrictions.
As well as thinking about sunglasses, managing allergies and taking breaks, drivers may well need to include more time for their journeys due to traffic jams on holiday routes. We hope that following these steps will help keep your employees safe whilst they are driving for your business and in their spare time.
For more detail call 0333 567 2003
