64 / 88
Drinking moderate amounts of
coffee
reduces swerving off the road, sleepiness,
and driver’s reaction time
Drinking coffee reduces reaction time, the
number of times the car touches the lines
on the pavement, and driver’s sense of
drowsiness according to the study “Coffee
when driving vehicles: analysis of its effects
on tired and sleepy drivers” prepared by
the Spanish Road Safety Foundation (FES-
VIAL), the Traffic and Road Safety Institute
(INTRAS), and sponsored by the Spanish
Coffee Federation (FEC).
In this research, the first of its kind in Spain,
a group of drivers underwent driving tests in
a simulator to analyse the effects of coffee
with caffeine, decaffeinated coffee, or pla-
cebo, the effects of taking a siesta before
driving, and the sense of drivers’ drowsi-
ness and fatigue.
The conclusions of the study indicated that
drinking coffee improves the performance
of tired or drowsy drivers since it reduces
by 36.3% the number of times the car goes
over the lane markings, reduces reaction
time by 7.7%, and diminishes drowsiness
by 25.9%.
Reducing the number of times that the dri-
ver goes over the lane markings is extre-
mely important since it is usually an indica-
tor of a pattern that indicates a drowsy or
tired driver who zigzags on the road. This is
the cause of 30% of accidents. Accordin-
gly, the study concludes that drinking a cup
of coffee improves driving performance,
and is a simple and effective measures that
drivers can take for a temporary improve-
ment in their driving performance.
The study also showed that drinking coffee
improves the sense of drowsiness which
contributes to improving road safety.
In short, “resting during long drives or when
one feels that the level of attention decrea-
ses, and driving correctly are always the
best options which, in combination with
drinking coffee, could be a good practice
to improve road safety behind the wheel”,
according to Luis Montoro, a professor of
Road Safety at the University of Valencia,
the director of FACTHUM.lab del INTRAS
research group, and chairman of FESVIAL.
“It is important to conduct studies that con-
tribute to improving road safety”.
In the presentation of study, María Seguí,
the general manager of DGT, said that “We
always talk about research involving the
factors that increase the risk of accidents
among drivers, but it is also important to
investigate the factors that could reduce
these risks”.
The importance of tiredness and drowsi-
ness when driving
Drowsiness and tiredness are two major
risk factors when driving, provoking acci-
dents such as hitting the back of the car
in front, swerving off the road or into the
adjacent lane. In fact, tiredness is consi-
dered the fourth cause of mortality in Spa-
nish roads and, according to the DDGT; it
is related with 20-30% of traffic accidents.
It is also calculated that drowsiness is res-
ponsible (directly or indirectly) with traffic
accidents due to human failure. In fact, ac-
cording to the Spanish Sleep Society (SES),
nearly 70% of drivers affirm that they have
felt sleepy occasionally when driving.
Therefore, taking measures such as drin-
king coffee to reduce the driver’s drowsi-
ness and fatigue could improve road safety
and reduce the rate of traffic accidents.
Coffee is one of the most consumed
beverages worldwide. In fact, in Spain,
consumption is equivalent to nearly 600
cups of coffee per inhabitant per year of
which 58% are drunk at home and the
remaining 42% in restaurants and cafe-
terias.
At home, coffee is mostly drunk during
breakfast and mealtimes while at cafe-
terias, it is drunk mid-morning. The pre-
ferred way to prepare coffee is with milk,
and nearly 56% of the population drink it
this way, especially at home.
Coffee consumption
in Spain
Drinking coffee improves
the performance of tired
or drowsy drivers and
reduces by 36.3%
the number of times
the car goes over the lane
markings