Researchers at Australia's Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have likened sleep-deprived new mothers to drink-drivers, going about their days on autopilot.
In the Summer 2009 issue of Safety Visions which details the latest in road safety research, Dr. Kerry Armstrong said that a new mother who had been awake for 17 hours was likely to have the driving performance of a person with a blood alcohol level of 0.05 per cent.
That equated with the maximum legal blood alcohol level allowed on Queensland roads.
"Many mums experience night after night of interrupted sleep, sometimes for years," Dr. Armstrong said.
"If a mother has been awake for 24 hours, her equivalent blood alcohol level is 0.1 per cent; twice the legal driving limit."
New Mums Bone Tired Twelve Weeks After Delivery
The study, carried out by QUT's Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety Queensland (CARRSQ), involved 24 new mothers, based in southeast Queensland, aged between 22 and 39 years. Participants kept sleep diaries and answered questionnaires at 6, 12 and 18 weeks' post delivery and were interviewed three months after giving birth.
Lifestyle changes, interrupted sleep, lack of routine and high levels of unpredictability led to fatigue that could, at times, be overwhelming and lasted well beyond the first six weeks of parenthood.
Tired mothers reported difficulty concentrating, living in a mental haze in which tasks that once were completed automatically, such as meal preparation, became so complex that some women felt unable to do them. "The likelihood of driving errors and risk of being involved in a crash substantially increases [with such fatigue]," Dr. Armstrong said.
Driver Fatigue Not Just Long Hauls
Previous research internationally has focused on driver fatigue as a road safety issue for long-haul truck drivers; not overtired mothers. It has suggested that a lack of sleep (such as 4 1/2 hours instead of 7 1/2 hours) led to significant driving performance impairment and that continuous sleep loss significantly impacted on tasks requiring vigilance and psychomotor skills, like driving.
Why Fatigue Causes Road Accidents
Driver fatigue can cause:
- slower reaction times
- reduced vigilance (for example, slower to notice oncoming hazards)
- impaired information processing (for example, short term memory).
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates driver fatigue is behind 56,000 road crashes a year in America, resulting in 40,000 injuries and 1550 deaths.
Warning Signs of Fatigue When Driving
- Failure to remember a distance traveled
- Repeated yawning
- Difficulty keeping eyes open
- Wandering thoughts
- Difficulty focusing
- Missing signs
- Drifting in lanes
Fatigue Report Wake-Up Call for New Moms
CARRSQ's findings present a wake-up call for new mothers to listen to their bodies.
"Instead of resting, mothers often reported 'pushing on' because tasks needed to be done and baby's needs had to be met," Dr. Armstrong said. "They need to remember that when driving with baby, there's a precious cargo on board."
Heather Grant - Heather Grant is a freelance journalist based in Brisbane, Australia. She's spent the best part of the last 20 years juggling writing ...
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