True Life Story
In a fact-finding training session for truck drivers, a participant shared a related experience: He left for a 3-day trip mid-afternoon on a certain day. Ordinarily, this was not a trip he would have loved to take. He was in a state of anger borne out of frustration. He had just been notified of a debit against his salary for shortages recorded in earlier trips. It came as a surprise to him since he wasn’t aware of any shortage recorded in the trips he had made so far. He was under severe financial pressure; house rent was due and children will be resuming school soon. This was definitely a debit wrongly timed. And now, here he was; been made to undertake a trip he would have gladly turned down if he had a choice.
He had driven for about 4hours when suddenly from nowhere another truck driver overtook him dangerously, almost knocking out his truck’s side-view mirror. “Now…this is it”; the driver muttered under his breathe just as he went in hot pursuit. While trying to force the dangerous driver to a stop, he battered his bumper and broke the hood chrome. The dangerous driver also had his fender badly dented. They were simply lucky that this did not result in a fatal accident.
The factor that is at play in this little real life experience is what medical professionals call ‘Stress’!
What is Stress?
In its simplest form, it is;
- A state of mental strain
- A state of tension or pressure built-up due to some adverse or demanding circumstances
- A situation of feeling overwhelmed by circumstances that appear ‘too demanding’
How do you identify stress?
There are a number of medical tests to determine if you are prone to stress or have a low stress tolerance. However, for a professional truck driver, personal stress can be identified by carrying out a self-assessment and providing answers to the following questions:
- Do you have difficulty sleeping?
- Are you prone to fatigue?
- Do you always feel weary?
- Are you intolerant of others?
- Are you distrustful or suspicious of others?
- Are you withdrawn or in another word, do you feel uncomfortable being in the midst of other colleagues or peers?
- Do you lack motivation?
- Do you always feel that in any situation the worst possible thing will always happen?
If you answer yes to these questions, then you may be suffering from stress.
If you are experiencing stress and it is affecting your job or out of work activities, this is called stress overload and you must take action to control the causes of the stress.
Medical professionals strongly advise that you see your doctor before stress takes control of your life and perhaps ruins it, or someone else’s life.
Road rage and aggressive driving: Products of Stress
Drivers will often show that they are under stress by driving aggressively which often result in Road Rage.
Road Rage is a term used for drivers with very low or negative tolerance for other road users. It is aggressive or angry behaviour by a driver which might include rude gestures, verbal insults, deliberately driving in an unsafe or threatening manner, or making threats. People like this are categorised as High-Risk Drivers.
Aggressive driving consists of practices exhibited by high-risk drivers who use the anonymity of a vehicle to take out their frustrations on others. For them, frustration levels are high and their level of concern for other road users is at its lowest.
Other manifestations of aggressive driving and road rage consist of the following:
- Aggressive drivers don’t bother stopping at Stop signs and red lights.
- They speed, tailgate, weave in and out of traffic, pass on the left, make improper and unsafe lane changes, make hand and facial gestures, scream, blow their horn, and flash their lights.
- They drive at speeds far in excess of what is safe, which causes them to follow too closely, change lanes frequently and abruptly without notice (i.e. they don’t use signals).
- They pass on the shoulder or unpaved portions of the roadway and stare at and/or threaten (verbally or through gestures) other motorists who are thoughtless enough to be in front of them.
Dealing with fatigue & Stress
- Plan your trip ahead of time so as to allow time for breaks.
- Drive your vehicle smoothly; cut down on rough driving, hard turns and sudden, harsh braking.
- Avoid excessive caffeine – it may sustain you for a while but it will leave you even more tired than before.
- If you wear glasses, make sure they are suitable for your eyesight, and in sunny weather, wear sunglasses so as to reduce the strain on your eyes.
- Keep your windscreen clean.
- Eat healthy meals.
- Get plenty and quality sleep
- Adjust your out-of-work activities to allow you to have adequate rest before commencing work.
- If you have trouble sleeping, seek medical advice.
- Make sure the temperature in the room is comfortable; not too hot or cold.
- Don’t exercise immediately before going to bed – you may likely shoot up your adrenalin and will have difficulty getting to sleep.
- Avoid heavy meals, caffeine and alcohol immediately before going to sleep.
The ability to effectively manage the factors that contribute to fatigue/stress is one of the most important skills for a truck driver in today’s high pressure work environment.
