Companies are endangering the lives of their employees and the public by neglecting the lethal problem of tiredness while driving for work, according to road safety campaign group Brake.

The safety charity has made the claim following a survey, backed by Green Flag, which found that only 22% of 305 company car drivers interviewed at service areas had received advice from their employers about how to combat fatigue.

And of those drivers educated by their companies about anti-tiredness measures, only 37% could identify the correct steps to keeping alert.

For drivers whose companies had done nothing to tackle the issue, nearly the same proportion (33%) gave the right answers, suggesting drivers were either paying no attention to advice given, or firms were supplying the wrong information.

Brake is keen to push employers hard about the dangers of tiredness while driving.

Deaths from drivers falling asleep at the wheel cost society and emergency services £364 million a year, and one in five deaths on 'monotonous roads', such as motorways and dual carriageways, are caused by driver tiredness.

Cathy Keeler, policy manager for Brake, said: 'We have to get across the message about how important this is and we have to hammer it home to company car drivers.

'It is no good just handing out a leaflet which then gets put in the bin. Fleet managers have to check up on drivers and ensure they are taking breaks when they should. Drivers should not be put under such pressure that they do not feel they can stop and have a rest if they are feeling tired.'

Brake is urging fleet managers to talk to drivers about levels of tiredness, and what to do about it.

It believes that dialogue between employers and employees is the only way to create a culture in which drivers can stop and rest without feeling they are shirking their responsibilities.

Brake has also called on the Government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to do more to tackle the problem.

It claims the Department for Transport's (DfT) television publicity campaign about tiredness while driving, shown for a week-and-a-half in the spring, ended up on cheap advertising slots during programming late at night and to a small audience.

Instead, Brake wants to see the DfT and HSE invest in year-round campaigns and 'urgent action' to educate employers about their duty of care.

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