The Dangers Of Driving With A Cold

Sunday, 1. March 2009

We all know we shouldn’t drink and drive but following a study carried out by Lloyds TSB Insurance we shouldn’t have a cold or flu and drive. According to their survey they found that over 125,000 crashes last year were caused by motorists that were suffering with either a cold or flu. This equated to one in ten collisions being caused by people with either of these viruses costing around £350 million in claims. The survey found that driving whilst suffering with these viruses impairs driver awareness by up to 11% or the equivalent to drinking a double whiskey, even worse if you have downed a double whiskey to fight the effects of a bad cold! Colds and flu had by far the greatest affect when drivers were assessed in an approved hazard simulator whilst suffering from a number of conditions including PMT, stress and headaches. I’m glad I wasn’t the examiner checking on the ladies suffering with PMT. I nearly got stabbed with a pair of scissors many times by my ex wife, whilst suffering PMT, for simply wishing her good morning so God knows what must have been said as the examiner pointed out that she has just wiped out the population of Birmingham whilst driving on the pavement in the ‘approved hazard simulator’. I would probably have agreed that the pedestrians had no right to be there whilst checking for scissors! By Graham Hill