Power Nap Now: Orange driver fatigue campaign targets education and death toll on roads

As part of the inaugural National Driver Fatigue Week, the campaign 'Tired? Power Nap Now' was launched in Orange on February 22.

Similar to 'Stop, Revive, Survive', this new strategy adds another dimension which educates drivers to tap into early warning signs of fatigue and 'power nap' - a short kip of 20 to 30 minutes - to ultimately lower the death toll on our roads.

"The human cost of all road accidents - including road accidents caused by fatigue - reverberate for years and years," Member for Calare Andrew Gee said.

"We shouldn't underestimate the pain, the loss and the grief that road accidents cause ... they are tragic for the victims of road accidents, they're tragic for families, they're tragic for communities - they are absolutely devastating."

One of the three biggest killers on our national roads, driver-fatigue is a state measured by self-analysis - with no laws to regulate it like there is for drink-driving, for example.

Comparably, when we sit around the 17-hourly mark of staying awake, our overall motor performance starts to have effects similar to a Blood Alcohol Concentration level of 0.05.

"It really is a shocking statistic," Orange and Cabonne road safety officer Andrea Hamilton Vaughan said about the BAC comparative.

"The problem with driver fatigue is that it affects us mentally and physically, so it creeps up on you and that's what makes it so insidious."

With power naps proven to reset the system - providing drivers with a burst of alertness - one reason Ms Hamilton-Vaughan said she's "hooked" on the issue is because she was a survivor of a fatigue-related car accident when she was just six years old.

"We got to Glen Innes and [my father] fell asleep at the wheel," she said, explaining how her father had only managed two-hours of sleep during an interstate move.

"My strongest memory as a child was waking up in the centre of the road, facing the white line and I remember looking over to see my sister's crumpled body - she was only three - and she looked like a little ragdoll."

Also a miracle the vehicle avoided hurling over the embankment, Ms Hamilton-Vaughn and her sister survived the accident, while her dad suffered a broken pelvic injury and was bed-ridden for almost five months.

"There was this truck driver there after we crash and I remember looking up at this man in a blue singlet with blue shorts who came walking towards me - he looked like he was walking in slow motion, he looked so fearful," she added.

"My sister started to cry and the feeling of relief that I remember going through my body ... the same relief was mirrored back on this truck driver's face - the fact that these two children laying in the middle of the road weren't dead ... I think he thought was a miracle."

Grateful to be alive to tell her story, Ms Hamilton-Vaughn now hopes this new campaign - backed by $135,000 in federal government funding - will help professional truck drivers and everyday commuters make the right connections - when you're feeling tired, take the option of having a short nap.

"We want to people to recognise the signs of fatigue and pull over as soon as they can," mayor of Orange, Jason Hamling said.

"I'm sure every driver can remember an experience when, driving home after a long day, they begin to struggle to keep their eyes open. At that point, there's a real danger of falling into a micro-sleep and that's when tragedies can happen."

In collaboration with the city's neighbours, Cabonne's deputy mayor Jamie Jones echoed Cr Hamling's advice, saying the campaign had also arrived at "an important time".

"[The campaign] targets all road users [and] as we start to open up - following COVID, heading into Easter, heading into winter sports - we know that rural communities travel a lot further," Cr Jones said.

"So I think this is important timing and it'll be really crucial [timing for] this important message."

Featuring vinyl campaign posters made free for major trucking companies, the new national 'Tired? Power Nap Now' campaign will also feature more than 100,000 branded takeaway coffee cups and a social media campaign with educational video content.

"[The campaign] is a wonderful example of local road safety advocates creating and implementing a strategy to help lead change that will increase road safety for heavy vehicle drivers, and in fact, all motorists," Mr Gee added.

"I know local transport operators and drivers will get on board and support this wonderful campaign that has the potential to save many lives."

The www.powernap.org.au website has also been developed, which includes maps of rest stops across Australia and an 'awareness competition' - an online quiz for any driver to take with a $500 fuel card up for grabs.