I'm a #SafeDriver - episode 2: I don’t drive if I am tired and I don’t allow distractions

#SafeDriver: I don’t drive if I’m tired and I don’t allow distractions

A good practice to avoid fatigue on the road? A 15-minute break every 2 hours.

A good practice that helps me stay focused at the wheel...

A good practice to avoid being distracted?

I put my phone on silent and stow it in the glove box.

My name’s Nicola. I’m a driver. It’s a big responsibility to drive a truck. I mainly transport industrial water or wastewater for TotalEnergies. We’re at an altitude of 1,100 meters and the roads are narrow and winding.

I’m Fernando Martins. I drive a minibus with 17 seats. I take passengers from home to the TotalEnergies offices and back.

I’m Brianna Laza, a solar project engineer. It takes about 1.5 hours to get to site on long country roads. You have to make sure you're paying attention. A big distraction to avoid is the cell phone. I was driving and received several calls in a row. I thought it might be urgent and tried to answer. I got distracted and drove into a post.

"Great! I’m so happy for you!" One day, passengers talked loudly on the phone which distracted me while driving. Now, I make sure I inform passengers.

After a long day you have to be careful, you’re most at risk of being tired. Once I was driving home, I felt my shoulders stiffening, my eyes were itchy, I was yawning. I decided to pull over and take a break. Once rested, I was able to drive home safely. Since then, every day before setting off, I put my phone on silent. So I don’t get distracted when the screen lights up, I stow it in the glove box. It prevents me from being distracted while driving.

So I can stay focused, these are the rules: passengers mustn’t talk to the driver, or talk loudly on the phone to avoid accidents, the radio volume must be low.

I always make sure I get a good night’s sleep. Driving drowsy causes 20% of deadly accidents on the road. So any time I do feel exhausted, I pull over, take a rest and make sure I’m being safe for myself and others.

I'm a #SafeDriver.

I'm a #SafeDriver.

I'm a #SafeDriver.