Sleepiness

Every year sleepiness is a cause of a large amount of traffic accidents. Studies indicate that sleepiness could be a contributing factor for around 10 to 40 per cent of all traffic accidents. The research about sleepiness at VTI in is focused on mapping out the amount of sleepy drivers and sleepiness related accidents.

For example, survey studies show that 30 per cent of drivers aged 20 to 24 years old have fallen asleep or almost fallen asleep while driving, during the last year. Not sleeping enough, being awake too long or driving late at night or early in the morning increases the risk of sleepiness related accidents. Young drivers, professional drivers, shift workers and individuals with sleeping disorders are risk groups.

A basic task for research concerning sleepiness is to map out the amount of sleepy drivers and sleepiness related accidents to be able to identify risk factors and act preventive. An important aspect in the preventive work is to investigate factors that affect the driver’s performance:

  • Time of day
  • Hours awake
  • Number of hours slept.

Other important aspects are how work hours and driving time affects the amount of sleepiness. A central issue is how to measure and detect sleepiness in drivers in a reliable way. This is an area of interest that enables development of measurement methods for research purposes, but also contributes to the development of driver assistance systems that warn the driver when he/she is too tired to drive.

Med. dr Anna Anund wrote a thesis on the subject of sleepiness in 2009; Sleepiness at the wheel (Karolinska Institutet Open Archive) External link.

Cooperation

The research concerning sleepiness often made in cooperation with, for instance, the Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University and the automotive industry.

Articles and reports

Mårtensson H, Keelan O, Ahlstrom C: Driver sleepiness classification based on physiology and driving performance in real traffic, IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems. 2019. 20(2):421-430.
Driver Sleepiness Classification Based on Physiological Data and Driving Performance From Real Road Driving (2019, DiVA) External link.

Silveira C S, Cardoso J S, Lourenco A R, Ahlström C: The importance of subject-dependent classification and imbalanced class distributions in driver sleepiness detection in realistic conditions, IET Intelligent Transport Systems. 2019. 13(2):347-355.
The importance of subject-dependent classification and imbalanced class distributions in driver sleepiness detection in realistic conditions (2019, DiVA) External link.

Barua S, Ahmed M U, Ahlstrom C, Begum S: Automatic Driver Sleepiness Detection using EEG, EOG and Contextual Information, Expert Systems with Applications. 2019. 115:121-135.
Automatic driver sleepiness detection using EEG, EOG and contextual information (2019, DiVA) External link.

Barua S, Ahmed M U, Ahlstrom C, Begum S, Funk P: Automated EEG Artifact Handling with Application in Driver Monitoring, IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 2018. 22(5):1350-1361.
Automated EEG Artifact Handling with Application in Driver Monitoring (2018, DiVA) External link.

Ahlstrom C, Fors C, Anund A, Åkerstedt T: The effect of daylight versus darkness on driver sleepiness: a driving simulator study, Journal of Sleep Research. 2018. 27(3):1-9.
The effect of daylight versus darkness on driver sleepiness: a driving simulator study (2018, DiVA) External link.

Ahlstrom C, Fors C, Anund A, Åkerstedt T: Effects of the visual road environment on the development of driver sleepiness in young male drivers, Accident Analysis and Prevention. 2018. 112:127-134.
Effects of the visual road environment on the development of driver sleepiness in young male drivers (2018, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Fors C, Ahlstrom C, Åkerstedt T: Are professional drivers less sleepy than non-professional drivers?, Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health. 2018. 44(1):88-95.
Are professional drivers less sleepy than non-professional drivers? (2018, DiVA) External link.

Fors C, Ahlstrom C, Anund A: A comparison of driver sleepiness in the simulator and on the real road, Journal of Transportation Safety & Security. 2018. 10(1-2):72-87.
A comparison of driver sleepiness in the simulator and on the real road (2016, DiVA) External link.

Ahlstrom C, Jansson S, Anund A: Local changes in the wake electroencephalogram precedes lane departures, Journal of Sleep Research. 2017. 26:816-819.
Local changes in the wake electroencephalogram precedes lane departures (2017, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Fors C, Ahlstrom C: The severity of driver fatigue in terms of line crossing: a pilot study comparing day- and night time driving in simulator, European Transport Research Review. 2017. 9:31.
The severity of driver fatigue in terms of line crossing: a pilot study comparing day- and night time driving in simulator (2017, DiVA) External link.

Mårdh S, Mårdh P, Anund A. Driving restrictions post-stroke: Physicians’ compliance with regulations. Traffic Inj Prev. 2017.
Driving restrictions post-stroke: Physicians’ compliance with regulations (2017, DiVA) External link.

Ruben B, Anund A. Posters From AAAM's 60th Annual Scientific Conference. Traffic Injury Prevention. 2016;17(sup1):222-3.

Hughes B, Anund A, Falkmer T. A comprehensive conceptual framework for road safety strategies. Accid Anal Prev. 2016;90:13-28.
A comprehensive conceptual framework for road safety strategies (2016, DiVA) External link.

Fors C, Ahlstrom C, Anund A. A comparison of driver sleepiness in the simulator and on the real road. Journal of Transportation Safety & Security. 2016:1-16.
A comparison of driver sleepiness in the simulator and on the real road (2016, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Ihlström J, Fors C, Kecklund G, Filtness A. Factors associated with self-reported driver sleepiness and incidents in city bus drivers. Industrial health. 2016;54:1-10.
Factors associated with self-reported driver sleepiness and incidents in city bus drivers (2016, DiVA) External link.

Watling CN, Akerstedt T, Kecklund G, Anund A. Do repeated rumble strip hits improve driver alertness? J Sleep Res. 2015
Do repeated rumble strip hits improve driver alertness? (2015, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Lahti E, Fors C, Genell A. The effect of low-frequency road noise on driver sleepiness and performance. PLoS One. 2015;10(4):e0123835.
The effect of low-frequency road noise on driver sleepiness and performance (2015, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Fors C, Kecklund G, Leeuwen W, Åkerstedt T. Countermeasures for fatigue in transportation: a review of existing methods for drivers on road, rail, sea and in aviation. Statens väg- och transportforskningsinstitut.; 2015. Report No.: VTI report 852A.
Countermeasures for fatigue in transportation: a review of existing methods for drivers on road, rail, sea and in aviation (2015, DiVA) External link.

Ahlstrom C, Fors C, Anund A, Hallvig D. Video-based observer rated sleepiness versus self-reported subjective sleepiness in real road driving. European Transport Research Review. 2015;7(38).
Video-based observer rated sleepiness versus self-reported subjective sleepiness in real road driving (2015, DiVA) External link.

Åkerstedt T, Anund A, Axelsson J, Kecklund G. Subjective sleepiness is a sensitive indicator of insufficient sleep and impaired waking function. J Sleep Res. 2014;23(3):240-52.
Subjective sleepiness is a sensitive indicator of insufficient sleep and impaired waking function (2014, DiVA) External link.

Hallvig D, Anund A, Fors C, Kecklund G, Åkerstedt T. Real driving at night - Predicting lane departures from physiological and subjective sleepiness. Biological Psychology. 2014;101(1):18-23.
Real driving at night - Predicting lane departures from physiological and subjective sleepiness (2014, DiVA) External link.

Filtness AJ, Anund A, Fors C, Ahlstrom C, Akerstedt T, Kecklund G. Sleep-related eye symptoms and their potential for identifying driver sleepiness. J Sleep Res. 2014;23(5):568-75.
Sleep-related eye symptoms and their potential for identifying driver sleepiness (2014, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Kecklund G, Fors C, Ihlström J, Ingre M, Radun I, et al. Bussförares arbetstider kopplat till trötthet. 2014. Report No.: VTI report 830-2014.
Bussförares arbetstider kopplat till trötthet (2014, DiVA) External link.

Anund A, Fors C, Hallvig D, Akerstedt T, Kecklund G. Observer rated sleepiness and real road driving: an explorative study. PLoS One. 2013;8(5):e64782.
Observer rated sleepiness and real road driving: an explorative study (2013, DiVA) External link.

Akerstedt T, Hallvig D, Anund A, Fors C, Schwarz J, Kecklund G. Having to stop driving at night because of dangerous sleepiness--awareness, physiology and behaviour. J Sleep Res. 2013;22(4):380-8.
Having to stop driving at night because of dangerous sleepiness--awareness, physiology and behaviour (2013, DiVA) External link.

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