Driver fatigue ad filmed at Monarto

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It’s getting late, you’re tired, your eyes lose focus, and your car starts to drift off course…

It’s a deadly scenario faced by too many South Australians, and one SA Police will highlight in an upcoming TV commercial and advertising campaign.

As one of the so-called “fatal five” causes of serious road crashes, driver fatigue was a big issue, Superintendent Darren Fielke said – especially in country areas.

So when SAPOL looked for the perfect location to illustrate the danger, they settled on Thiele Road at Monarto.

The road was closed on the morning of June 21 so a film crew could simulate a near miss between two vehicles.

Additional scenes were shot in a studio, to be combined in post-production.

There were long, monotonous stretches of road across South Australia where it was easy for drivers to become tired, Superintendent Fielke warned.

In the time it took you to read this sentence, a car could drift across the road and hit you head-on.

“If you have ever felt drowsiness, yawning, trouble keeping your head up, or even daydreaming behind the wheel … it could have been you,” Superintendent Fielke said.

“We want people to recognise those signs before they literally drift off, which is what we depict with this campaign.”

Fatigue was a silent killer which contributed to at least 11.5 per cent of fatal crashes in South Australia, he said.

“It is particularly dangerous because fatigued drivers often have decreased ability to judge their own level of tiredness,” he said.

“It is crucial drivers identify early signs before they literally drift off.”

How to prevent driver fatigue

SA Police recommend that you:

• Get a good night’s sleep, at least 7-8 hours, before a long drive
• Travel no more than 8-10 hours in a day
• Take breaks: At least 15 minutes every two hours
• Share the driving with others in the car
• Avoid things that can make you sleepy, such as fatty foods, alcohol and medicines that cause drowsiness
• Avoid long drives at certain times of day, such as after work when you are already tired, or between midnight and 6am

The advertisement will drift onto our TV screens later in 2024, around school holidays and long weekends.

It is the second one filmed in the Murraylands in recent years.

Another ad, shot at Callington in 2021, warned that nearly half of the drivers who died on country roads were local to the area where they crashed.

• More information: thinkroadsafety.sa.gov.au.
• Read more: Murray Bridge is a car crash hotspot, RAA analysis finds

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