What is a “solitary accident” and how to avoid it according to the DGT

The festive periods are usually times of the year in which long journeys are made, so you have to be very careful in the face of “solitary accidents”.

When driving, many factors must be taken into account: road conditions, lighting and, above all, our condition. We can think that in traffic accidents there are always several involved, but in reality there is also a type of accident in which only one vehicle is the protagonist.

These accidents are called “solitary accidents” and there are ways to avoid them, but first it will be necessary to know how they occur and why they are so dangerous. The University of Valencia and the DGT conducted a study in which it was found that these types of accidents are the most attributable to drowsiness.

The bands in which these accidents usually occur are usually the hours close to dawn and also the first hours of the afternoon. Of course, there is also a key time slot that occurs between three and five in the morning. What happens is that the dream appears and causes the reaction times to increase.

By taking longer to react accidents are more likely to occur, there are many more errors on the road and, usually, when feeling sleepy, driving becomes more aggressive and irresponsible. The DGT councils To avoid this type of accident, they also apply to any type of night driving.

The first thing is to check before leaving the house that all the lights work correctly, the next thing is to do the adjustment of the mirrors to know that they are well regulated. Along with the lights, you also have to check the height of the headlights so that they offer their best performance and do not disturb other drivers.

If the sunset hours coincide with our departure from home, what we have to do is turn on the lighting an hour before sunset. In case of bad weather or poor visibility, what you have to do is adjust your speed. Breaks are important and more so on long-duration cruises.

What the DGT recommends is to make stops every hour or hour and a half. If, even following all these tips, symptoms such as tearing, eye fatigue, drowsiness and itchy eyes appear; it is best to find a safe place to park the vehicle to rest and then continue the march.

Of course, when making this stop the best and mandatory is to mark it with triangles in order to avoid any possible accident by another clueless driver. On the road you have to be very careful and, normally, our worst enemy is our overestimation of our driving skills.