ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to establish the extent of driver fatigue on Western Australia’s roads using data extracted from WA Police Department accident report forms. The characteristics of single-vehicle accidents have been provided as a preamble to the issue of identifying the extent of the driver-fatigue problem on country roads. Fatigue accidents in the south west account for 6.6 per cent of all single-vehicle accidents compared with 4.7 per cent for remote Western Australia. A more interesting trend is that the presence of the younger driver is noticeably higher in respect of single-vehicle accidents in the south-west than in remote Western Australia. Campaigns, encompassing both the media and community groups, should be encouraged to alert drivers, particularly high-risk drivers, to this subtle but serious problem of driver fatigue. The problem is felt to be largely underestimated due to a lack of reporting and/or a lack of candidness in reporting accidents involving driver fatigue.
