There are things we can do to manage our driving, and mitigate the potential for driver fatigue. Photo / 123rf
In 1958, Nils Bohlin invented the modern car three-point safety belt while working for Volvo.
The Volvo company held the patent for the new device, and because they were so impressed with how it improved in-car safety, they gave the patent away, free to the world, so that all car manufacturers could use the device. But the uptake took a while.
In 1972, Lee Iacocca, then president of Ford Motor Company, declared that, “Safety doesn’t sell.”
But in 1988, when he led Chrysler, he announced that they would be the first American automotive company to put airbags into all their automobiles.
In the past decade or so, we have seen a significant technological evolution in in-car safety.
These include smart airbags and adaptive seat belts, with other safety systems such as crumple zones, antilock brakes, lane keeping, active cruise control and electronic stability systems.
In-car safety technology is now a must-have for sophisticated car buyers, and the industry generally aspires to improved vehicle safety ratings.
But what about the factor that’s involved with 20% of crashes?
That is driver fatigue, and how has the vehicle manufacturing industry moved to mitigate the outcomes, or warn the driver of the fact that they might be asleep at the wheel?
When I wrote about this a month ago, one person put it to me like this: “I don’t drink and drive, I don’t do drugs, I don’t speed and I see myself as a good driver.
“But there is always the possibility that I could fall asleep at the wheel, and I might not survive to learn from the incident.”
The issue of fatigued driving has been appreciated and studied as a phenomenon in the heavy vehicle industry for around 15 years now.
A major world-first study, by Monash University in Australia in partnership with Seeing Machines, Ron Finemore Transport, and Volvo Trucks Australia, was reported in 2020.
It tested fatigue prevention and driver monitoring technology, in 10 fleet trucks with over 100 drivers, driving for 22,000 hours over 1.5 million kilometres, over a nine-month period.
The technology system consisted of small cameras and connected sensors, installed in the vehicle. It was so sensitive it could detect the eyes blinking, the head position and where the driver was looking.
An alarm signals driver fatigue or distraction, and the driver’s seat vibrates rapidly. An alert is also sent by satellite immediately to the Seeing Machines 24/7 monitoring centre, which is accessible by the truck company in real time, so they can contact the driver and initiate a fatigue management plan.
The study included a truck simulator to fine-tune the technology. That study found that drivers were twice as likely to crash when fatigued, but 11 times more likely to crash when fatigued and distracted at the same time. Heavy vehicle technology to detect driver fatigue has come a long way over the past few years.
The commercial nature of heavy vehicles means that there is significant incentive to install the technology and to take seriously the issue of driver fatigue. The consequences of having an asleep driver in charge of a 50-tonne truck and trailer unit can be pretty horrific.
But what technological advances have we had to detect fatigued driving in the family car for the ordinary driver? This is an issue in 20% of crashes and the possibility of in-car cameras which detect fatigued driving and respond like lane departure warnings, with a noise and physical warning, seems feasible, but the Lee Iacocca comment about “Safety doesn’t Sell” may need to be revisited.
My column a month ago sparked a response from Grant Burns, principal of Tauraroa Area School, who wrote: “I received a couple of CO2 monitors during the Covid years to use in classrooms. It is well identified that ‘fresh’ air has 400ppm of CO2, and once the level rises to 1000ppm of CO2, there was a measurable reduction in cognitive function. Fresh air is important to effective learning.
“Many drivers use the recirculate function to cool down air-conditioned cars quickly. In fact, many cars will default to this on start-up, and a big temperature drop is achieved, but the driver needs to then switch back to fresh air. As an experiment, I had a CO2 monitor in my medium-sized car and found that CO2 levels rose from 450ppm to 1000ppm in around 15 minutes, with me the only occupant, and the air recirculating.
“Passengers in the car would create more extreme results. Has there been any research as to the effect of CO2 buildup as a contributor to fatigue-related crashes?” Thank you, Grant.
Turns out that Grant is quite right. There is recent research which indicates this very factor as a fatigue contributor in cars.
So, with the personal behaviours of good sleep, regular breaks, shared driving, recognising fatigue symptoms, and a power nap, that also managing the air-con for fresh air are all things we can do to manage our driving, and mitigate the potential for driver fatigue.
But we await the technology to give us a jolt, in order to actively avoid the fatigue factor in over 20% of road crashes.