Every year fatigue in traffic causes hundreds of thousands of accidents all over the world.
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Swedish authorities have joined up with industry and developed a system that will reduce the number of fatigue related accidents in traffic.
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Driver sleepiness has been estimated to be involved in at least 15-20 per cent of road crashes. The major causes of driver sleepiness are poor sleep, extended time awake and driving at night. However, long driving time, alcohol, and monotonous driving conditions may also contribute to sleepy driving.
The risk groups for sleepy driving are young drivers, professional drivers, shift workers and individuals suffering of chronic sleep disorders.
There is no “golden standard” of how to measure sleepiness in a driving context, although there are many potentially promising indicators, such as lane variability and long eye closure. There exist many sleepiness-monitoring devices on the market but very few of them have been validated in realistic conditions, in particular when it comes to evaluating the effectiveness of strategies for feedback and warnings. The ultimate goal of a sleepiness-warning device with respect to safety is that drivers cease driving when a certain level of sleepiness has been reached.
Aim
The primary objective of the projekt DROWSI is to perform multidisciplinary research and development of concepts and technologies for real-time sleepiness prediction and countermeasures, starting from the current state of art. A key outcome of the project is a methodology for dealing with drowsy driving. The solution consists of a holistic approach: both recommended work methods and a technical support system, which together form an operative, tactical and strategic approach to drowsy driving aimed at both the driver and other stake holders.
Read more:
Sleepiness and driving - From reasons to countermeasures (pdf)
Individual differences in sleepiness related driving performance (pdf)
Drowsiness algorithms and indicators (pdf)
Potential safety benefits of a driver drowsiness warning system (pdf)
State of the art review of driver sleepiness (pdf)
Cost Benefit Analysis (pdf)
Analysis and Optimization of Systems for Detecting Sleepiness In Drivers (pdf)
WP2 HMI rapport (pdf)
Evaluation of a sleepiness warning system – a test track study (VTI Report)