2.7 Tiredness Warning System
A new system to assist drivers to be aware of tiredness
and drowsiness has also been developed. A study at NHTSA
(The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)
revealed that about 1.5% (100,000 cases) of all road accidents
per year is caused by tiredness and drowsiness during driving
[29]. Many attempts have been made to encourage people to
be aware of this danger. This scenario can be avoided by
having enough sleep, not driving when feeling sleepy, and
taking a rest regularly to ensure you’re fresh and awake. The
fact is that long distance drivers do take the above advise and
continue to drive when drowsy endangering everybody on
the road. So perhaps this system to warn and assist them is
needed. A new system from the car manufacturer MercedesBenz
is Safety Systems for Tired Drivers. This has been
developed and recently installed on most new Mercedes-Benz
models [30]. The system uses various sensors to detect and
analyze driving behavior and recognize tiredness, drowsiness
that’s associated with changes of driving style of each driver.
The key indicator of tiredness can be measured from steering
wheel movement behavior. Other various examples of key
driver actions are not using indicators and/or poor pedal
control, which altogether help grade the driving style. Also
external factors influences the system such as side wind,
road-surface conditions, time of day, duration of journey, and
traffic situations are taken into account. Once tiredness and
drowsiness have been detected, the attention assist system
warns visually such as a flashing light or an emitted audible
warning signal to warn the driver [30], [31]. An interesting
point is that the systems should distinguish between tiredness
and drowsiness or personal habits otherwise it could be
annoying to the driver.