Driving drowsy test being developed

Researchers in Australia are develop a roadside test that can determine whether drivers are too drowsy to be behind the wheel. The system uses special glasses that track eye movements and measure the length of blinks, which are factors thought to identify whether a person is fatigued. The system is being developed as research suggests up to 20% of Australians have fallen asleep while at the wheel and 33% drive while tired once a month or more. Driving while tired is thought to be as much a risk as being
February 23, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Researchers in Australia are develop a roadside test that can determine whether drivers are too drowsy to be behind the wheel.  The system uses special glasses that track eye movements and measure the length of blinks, which are factors thought to identify whether a person is fatigued. The system is being developed as research suggests up to 20% of Australians have fallen asleep while at the wheel and 33% drive while tired once a month or more.

Driving while tired is thought to be as much a risk as being drunk at the wheel. Fatigue is thought to be a factor in up to 20% of road crashes according to the Danish road safety expert, Jesper Solund. Research suggests that the majority of fatigue related incidents involve either a single car or a head-on crash. Drivers can be at greatest risk from fatigue when driving in the darkness between 3am and 5am, with shift workers being particularly vulnerable.

Related Content

  • Safer roads needed for the gig economy
    May 14, 2019
    Roads everywhere are becoming high-pressure workplaces for millions of gig economy workers, meaning traffic police need a new way to regulate how highways are used. Geoff Hadwick reports from Manchester, UK The way in which the world’s highways are designed, built and used needs to change fast as the gig economy becomes a global phenomenon. Millions of low-paid and badly-trained freelance drivers are now using road as their workplace, all of them working hard under huge amounts of pressure. The tren
    Read More
  • Canada’s DUI problem involves drugged as well as drunk driving
    August 10, 2018
    Drugged driving is a serious issue in Canada, as the latest research suggests.
    Read More
  • Distraction poses increasing risk to driving safety
    July 21, 2014
    In the UK a number of road safety campaigning groups are warning that driver distraction from mobile phones will become a bigger killer than drink driving by 2015. While cellphone use by drivers is banned in the UK, penalties are still light and enforcement lax. Drivers still frequently use cellphones while behind the wheel. Suggestions have been made to double the penalties facing offenders, but if this ruling is accepted it will still take time to implement. And some say these tougher penalties are still
    Read More
  • Telematics technology can identify risky drivers
    June 16, 2015
    A new study shows that the risk level of a driver’s likelihood of a crash can be determined accurately. An independent study carried out by driver behaviour specialist CAS for Risk Technology shows that data collected by automotive telematics devices can accurately predict the likelihood of a motorist having a crash. CAS carried out its research with 1,291 drivers who were insured by a leading UK firm and had telematics devices installed in their vehicles. The study examined how driver behaviour affects the
    Read More

Highlighted Content