Assessing driver fatigue

An innovative safety system that could reduce accident levels is being developed in Sweden.
February 27, 2012 Read time: 1 min
An innovative safety system that could reduce accident levels is being developed in Sweden. This new technology is intended to determine whether drivers are too tired to drive. Accident data shows that high levels of road accidents are caused by drivers who are too tired while at the wheel and this new system uses eye-tracking to test if the person is not in a fit state to drive. The test involves the person tracking a moving ball and of the eye movements show too slow a response, this reveals the state of fatigue. The aim is to introduce the system as a package for modern cars, similar to the alco-lock devices now installed on many vehicles. As part of the development project some 24 people have undergone tests on the system, which is being developed jointly with the Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute (VTI) at Linköping in Sweden. The Swedish police force has also expressed its interest in the technology for evaluating how tired drivers are to assess their state of fitness to drive.

Related Content

  • Safety barriers improve highway safety
    July 3, 2012
    Highway safety could yet improve using available technology more widely Safety barriers still offer huge opportunities to improve accident statistics worldwide. There is a wide array of products on the market to suit all types of installation and with a diverse range of solutions for each application. Highway authorities have been installing barriers for many years now and the technology continues to improve, however an analysis of accident statistics shows that barriers offer further potential. Details fr
    Read More
  • Cannabis causes car crashes
    March 15, 2012
    Cannabis use poses a serious threat to road safety. A new report published by the British Medical Journal says that drivers who smoke cannabis within a three hour time frame before getting behind the wheel will double their risk of a serious crash.
    Read More
  • IAM and Brake comment on increased UK road crashes
    September 24, 2015
    Both the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) and road safety charity Brake have expressed serious concern over official figures showing increased road deaths in the UK. The Department of Transport’s Reported Road Casualties Great Britain: 2014 Annual Report says there were 1,775 reported road deaths in 2014, an increase of 4% compared with 2013. The IAM has called for a raft of measures to reverse the disappointing increase in numbers of people killed and injured on UK roads. It added the number of people
    Read More
  • Addressing a silent disaster
    September 24, 2012
    As India's economy registers 9% annual growth, promising material super-power status by mid-century, the nation is barely beginning to address a silent disaster, that of road casualties It was Dr. P K Sikdar [a director of International Consultants and Technocrats/ICT and a former director of the Central Road Research Institute/CRRI] who coined the phrase "silent disaster."
    Read More

Highlighted Content