The last 120 km to Garoua
A 58-year-old driver of a 60-seat intercity coach is on the Yaoundé–Garoua run, about 1,000 km. He started at 21:00 the previous evening, drove to Bertoua, waited two hours for passengers, then continued. By 20:00 the next day he has been on duty 23 hours, of which 14 are driving, with two 30-minute meal stops. He took an antihistamine tablet at 22:00 for a cold and drank three energy drinks. He reports two brief episodes of drifting onto the rumble strip in the last 200 km. He tells the conductor he feels 'fine now' and wants to push the last 120 km to Garoua because the passengers have connections. The company's rule is a maximum of 10 hours driving in any 24 and a 45-minute break after 4.5 hours.
1. Assess the driver's fitness to continue. Identify every factor that bears on the decision, not just the hours.
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The driver is unfit to continue. The hours alone are decisive: 14 hours of driving against a company maximum of 10, and 23 hours on duty. The breaks were two 30-minute meal stops, not the required 45-minute break after each 4.5 hours of driving, so the rest pattern is well outside the rule.
The other factors make the picture worse rather than better:
- Antihistamine: many cold preparations are sedating. Taken at 22:00, the effect can persist and combine with fatigue.
- Energy drinks: caffeine masks tiredness temporarily and can produce a rebound crash. Feeling 'fine now' after three drinks is not evidence of fitness.
- Micro-sleeps: drifting onto the rumble strip twice is a serious warning sign. A driver who has already had two lapses is at high risk of a full sleep episode.
- Circadian timing: 20:00 after a night of driving means the body clock is pushing toward sleep, especially after a long duty.
- Age and accumulated load: a 58-year-old on 23 hours of duty has less reserve than a rested younger driver.
Passenger connections are not a justification. The conductor and the company must treat the rumble-strip episodes as an alarm, not as a minor lapse.
2. What should happen now, and who decides? Explain how to handle the passengers and the dispatcher.
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The driver should stop at the next safe place - a lit town, a police or gendarmerie checkpoint, or a reputable roadside station - and not start the final 120 km. He should tell the conductor and the company's control office immediately, in plain terms: 14 hours driving, two rumble-strip episodes, sedating medication, and a request for relief.
The decision belongs to the operator, not to the passengers and not to the tired driver alone. The company should either send a relief driver, arrange a replacement coach, or put the passengers up for the night and complete the journey after a proper rest. The conductor should explain the reason to the passengers: a fatigue-related crash would be far worse than a missed connection. The dispatcher should not be allowed to pressure the driver by phone; the driver's report should be logged with a time stamp.
If no relief is available, the coach stays put. The driver should not 'rest' for 20 minutes and then continue; that does not repay a sleep debt of this size. He should also not take another stimulant. A doctor should review the cold and the medication before his next duty.
3. What would a compliant plan for this 1,000 km run have looked like from the start?
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A compliant plan would have been built around the company's 10-hour driving limit and the 45-minute break after 4.5 hours, not around passenger demand.
- Two drivers for a 1,000 km overnight run, or a planned overnight stop at Bertoua or Ngaoundéré with a change of driver. Fourteen hours behind the wheel cannot be made compliant by short meal stops.
- A written schedule showing departure, breaks, the stop point and the relief arrangement, shared with the control office.
- A medication check before departure. The driver should have told the company doctor or pharmacist about the cold and asked for a non-sedating treatment, or reported unfit if none was suitable.
- No reliance on energy drinks. Water, proper meals and planned rest are the tools; stimulants only hide the problem.
- A fatigue-reporting culture. The conductor should have been briefed to report drifting or repeated yawning, and the driver should have felt able to call in without penalty.
With that plan, the last 120 km would have been driven by a rested driver, in daylight or after a proper rest, and the passengers' connections would have been protected without gambling with 60 lives.