An article published in the Irish Independent points to useful research conducted by Cardiff University’s ‘Common Cold Centre’. According to a team at that university, driving with a bad cold or flu places you at higher risk. Our concentration levels actually fall by 50pc when we have a cold. This is the equivalent of downing more than four double whiskies. Furthermore, if you sneeze at the wheel you could travel ‘blind’ for 15 metres.

This lower concentration means decreased reaction times, more chance of dangerous and sudden braking, poorer spatial awareness and motorists being less observant of their surroundings

The researchers discovered that reaction times lengthened significantly and people jumped on the brakes more frequently when they were a bit under the weather.They put this down to drivers being less aware of what was going on in traffic. They also found that a driver with a cold is 30pc more likely to hit a kerb because their judgment of distance had deteriorated.

In related news 1 in 20 drivers unknowingly suffers from sleep apnoea syndrome, which might cause you to nod off at the wheel, according to research by the RAC. The organisation suggests that the disorder is responsible for up to one in five accidents.

It occurs when muscles in the throat relax as we go to sleep, reducing airflow and causing snoring, explains Professor Russell Foster, director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at Oxford University.

“If the throat closes completely, you stop breathing for a couple of seconds, and the brain, realising it is being starved of oxygen, forces you to wake up,” he says. “This can happen up to 100 times a night — disrupting the sleep cycle and also causing you to miss out on phases of deep refreshing sleep. So you feel tired during the day.”

Many drivers are unaware they have the problem.