The M1 at Boot Hill, Northamptonshire, is also a black spot as motorists near the South-east.Previous research has already shown such accidents peak between 2am and 6am when the body is programmed to sleep. The “afternoon lull” also has a sleep-inducing affect, especially on older motorists. But male drivers aged less than 30 are most likely to doze off and crash.Professor Horne is investigating the impact of Red Bull, a high-caffeine drink, on the ability to stay awake while driving. Unlike coffee or tea, such drinks deliver a controlled level of natural stimulant.Many people are aware of becoming more drowsy because they start to sing or open the windows. “They should simply get off the road,” says the professor.”Drink a couple of cups of coffee or energy drinks and sleep for 10 to 15 minutes.
Driving off the motorway and walking around the service area is a waste of time. Fresh air and exercise simply do not work.”He added: “I would be very critical of anyone who suggested sleepy drivers should embark on a journey and survive on energy drinks. That would be absolute madness.”But we have to accept that young men will take risks and we need to know how best to tackle the problem.”. Pro-European ministers were celebrating a victory last night after Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, was given top-level clearance to promote Britain’s entry into the euro. Pro-European ministers were celebrating a victory last night after Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, was given top-level clearance to promote Britain’s entry into the euro.
Tony Blair and one of the Cabinet’s more eurosceptic members, Gordon Brown, approved a speech in which Mr Byers spelt out the advantages for Britain of joining the single currency.Until yesterday rifts within the Government had prevented such a public statement of support being made. Mr Blair planned to do so in a recent speech but changed his mind when the Chancellor objected to an early draft.Mr Brown favours stifling debate on the euro until after the general election.
Mr Byers, Robin Cook, the Foreign Secretary and Peter Mandelson, the Northern Ireland Secretary, fear support for joining is slipping away. An ICM poll last month showed 60 per cent of people would vote “no” in a referendum, and pro-Europeans believe they must promote the euro now if they want to win a vote soon after the election.Mr Byers told the Yorkshire International Business Convention that if the Government’s “five economic tests” were met, the advantages of joining the euro would be clear.Joining the currency would mean greater economic stability, less uncertainty for traders and incentives for entrepreneurs to develop their ideas, he said. “Membership of a successful single currency would give European businesses the same advantages already enjoyed by their competitors in the United States. By opening up a larger market and reducing exchange risks and costs, businesses should be able to take greater risks in developing new products and services.”But Mr Byers repeated the long-standing Government policy that it would judge its “five tests” – the compatibility of economic structures, flexibility, the position of the City and the impact of membership on growth and jobs – early in the next Parliament.”If the economic tests are satisfied then we should join the single currency if that is what the Government, Parliament and the people decide,” he said.New figures show the tests would be met by the end of next year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said the British economy would converge with the eurozone by then.The Industry Secretary was supported by Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission.
He said in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow by the BBC’s On the Record that it would be difficult for Britain to stay out of a successful euro “Some day it will become convenient,” he said “But it depends upon our behaviour. Let’s say if the euro will deliver, as I think, it would be difficult to stay out. If not, it will be easy and happy to stay out.”The Conservative leader, William Hague, went on the euro offensive in a speech to party activists in Wales. He said Europe was facing a stark choice between becoming a “superstate” or moving toa “flexible, modern Europe” of co-operating nation states.The Tories would enshrine in law reserve powers to protect the supremacy of Parliament, said Mr Hague.The shadow Chancellor, Michael Portillo, told Welsh Conservatives Mr Hague was right. Gordon Brown’s economic tests were “a decoy and a sham”, he said, because the Government planned to join the euro regardless of the economic conditions.. Shop assistants who sell alcohol to under-18s will be prosecuted under measures passed by MPs yesterday. Shop assistants who sell alcohol to under-18s will be prosecuted under measures passed by MPs yesterday.
The legislation was introduced after the death of a 14-year-old exposed a loophole in the law.David Knowles, who lived in the Pudsey constituency of the Labour MP Paul Truswell in West Yorkshire, was killed in March 1997 as he ran across a busy road after being sold alcohol twice within five minutes at a Threshers off-licence.But the staff who served him could not be prosecuted, because only the licenceholder of a shop is legally liable for ensuring customers are over 18, and they were assistants.
Mr Truswell said yesterday: “[The law] will send a message to the people of this country that this House takes very seriously the issue of young people abusing alcohol and the responsibilities of those who sell alcohol.”To me and my constituents, and in particular to the family of David Knowles, it will serve as a memorial to him and the lessons to be learnt from his tragic death.”The private member’s Bill gained cross-party support for the ban and for a further measure that outlaws “proxy purchasing,” when an adult buys alcohol for a minor. Most people believed it was already an offence to sell alcohol to under-18s, he said. But this case showed it was not always so.”This is a clear and total anomaly,” he said. “It is an enormous loophole which not only exercises me, not only exercises everyone who hears about its existence, but obviously came as a tremendous shock to parents, family and neighbours of David Knowles when they found the small amount of justice they felt they could pursue through court was going to be denied them.”He said David, a serious boy, had been on his way home from school when friends asked him to buy alcohol.He drank three cans of lager and ran across a busy part of the Leeds ring road He was knocked down and died soon after. Police found video evidence at the off-licence showing David buying the alcohol but, when the case got to the magistrates’ court, the Crown Prosecution Service abandoned the case against the two members of staff.The Home Office minister Mike O’Brien said the Bill was “sensible and fair”, adding: “The Government shares deep concern about the unlawful sale of alcohol to young people.” The message to retailers and staff should be: “If the person in your shop appears to be under 18, don’t sell to them.”Several Conservatives supported the Bill. Edward Leigh, MP for Gainsborough, said it would reintroduce the “fear factor” for licensees.
