Driving While Fatigued Essay

Driving under the influence of alcohol not only presents a danger to the driver, but also to every other motorist or pedestrian near the roadway. Being intoxicated impairs ones judgment, vision and reaction time, all of which is critical when operating any motor vehicle. Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death for Americans aged 6–27 and alcohol is a big factor to those numbers (jstor).

“It eases off the movement of the focal sensory system, including the brain. Liquor could influence you’re driving by bringing on: impaired vision, reduced response times, reduced fixation and vigilance, feeling more loose and languid, which may cause a driver to nod off at the worst possible time, difficulty in understanding tactile data, difficulty concentrating on other traffic, and failure to obey street principles. The aftereffect impacts of liquor, the following day, can make it hard to think and drive securely, and may make you nod off while driving. An individual who has been drinking liquor may imagine that in the event that they are particularly watchful, they will have the capacity to drive securely. Notwithstanding, the liquor may have influenced their perspective and knowledge of reality. Their activities and reactions may be very distinctive to what is really required, yet they may be unconscious of the amount their driving abilities have been influenced”

So as long as I’ve been driving I’ve always recalled my mother’s voice saying, “Don’t drink and drive. Sleep at a friend’s house or pay for a taxi. Don’t Do It echoing in the back of my head.” So imagine my surprise when I found out that “driver distraction is actually more important now than critical crash factors such as fatigue, drug ingestion and alcohol intoxication”. According to John Lee, author of Driver Distraction and Inattention: Advances in Research and Countermeasures, “Road vehicle crashes are predicted to become the third largest cause of death and injury globally by 2020”.

Obesity is a significant contributing risk factor for a higher prevalence of fatigue and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in the general population. Obesity is also linked to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). These associations represent significant occupational hazards during the performance of complex tasks such as, piloting an aircraft, driving trucks, and operating public transit vehicles, which require workers to have constant focus, attention and vigilance (Dinges et al., 1997; Dagan et al., 2006; Cohen et al., 2010). Therefore, even a slight increase in risk could have substantial impact on the population attributable risk, given the incidence rate of fatigue related crashes and the high prevalence of obesity among drivers (Dixon et al., 2007). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) provided estimates that approximately 20% of all serious injuries caused by motor vehicle crashes are associated with drowsy driving (Garbarino et al., 2001). The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) gave evidence that over 30% of truck driver fatal crashes are fatigue

We are all aware that if you consume too much alcohol, you should not be driving. Excessive alcohol causes a higher risk of crashing because it slows down your brain activity. It causes hazy thinking, slower reaction times and impaired vision, which means you are less aware of the environment around you, causing danger to yourself and others around you. The same goes for drugs. Driving requires absolutely all your concentration, and that’s why you need to be sober when you are driving.

Most frequent times for the drowsy driving to take effect is either early in the morning or late at night when that drowsiness is overtaking; The body’s natural sleeping period is around these times as well. “Sleepiness also can peak in the middle of the afternoon. Older adults are more likely to have a drowsy-driving accident in the mid-afternoon” (Drowsy Driving, page 1). There are several cases as to where the drivers that are drowsy don’t often avoid accidents and also veer off the side of the road. These kinds of crashes though are more frequent in younger people with children. Though it is more frequent to do this with children, it is also two times more likely for a man to partake in this action instead of a woman. The age group that this typically happens around can vary between 18 and 29. Not only is it irresponsible to drive drowsy, it can be pricey too. Millions of dollars have been awarded to families due to them being a victim of a crash in drowsy driving. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conservatively estimated that 100,000 police reported crashes that are the direct result of driver fatigue each year” (Page 2). There is almost no police training so they can noticeably spot out signs of drowsy driving. More than ⅓ of people have fallen asleep at the wheel and much more than that have gotten into the car drowsy. “Drowsy driving has resulted in 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries, and 12.5 billion in monetary losses” (page 5).

"In 2013, 10,076 people died in drunk driving crashes - one every 52 minutes - and 290,000 were injured in drunk driving crashes"(State Farm). Many people may not think that just a couple drinks would affect their driving capabilities,but in fact it does. Driving while intoxicated has been a dangerous issue in the U.S but there are strategies which have helped minimize the number of drivers driving while drunk.

Driving a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol is one of the most dangerous things someone can do. There is a huge amount of research that has proved that driving performance and reaction times are highly affected by alcohol. Driving while intoxicated slows down your reaction time, impairs your ability to drive, slurs speech, can make you have double vision, lose of self control, poor coordination, loss of consciousness, causes you to make choices you normally wouldn’t, and also can lead to death.

Although we may easily forget, sleep does play an important role when we get behind the wheel of our vehicle every day. One study that was conducted by researchers from the University of Granada was able to demonstrate that our individual chronotypes that determines if a person is a "morning person," or "evening person," directly has an influence on driving performances.

If they're excessively tired while driving they're more likely to fall asleep at the wheel and have much slower reflexes, which increases the chances of a car accident (“Driving”). Insomnia is less dangerous, compared to certain sleep disorders, and may just cause fatigue, and problems with concentration and memory (“What Is?”). Sleep apnea is potentially an extremely dangerous sleep disorder if left untreated (“Diseases”). Untreated sleep apnea could cause hypertension, a stroke, or even heart failure (“Diagnosing”). Narcolepsy can be dangerous in certain cases, like when it causes a person to unexpectedly fall asleep. Restless leg syndrome is much less dangerous, and may just restrict the patient from driving or sitting for long periods of time

This is because of the fact that the driver is not able to control his vehicle when he is asleep and by the time he realizes it, there is an accident. The vehicle is at a very high speed on highways due to which handling is tough and getting the vehicle to halt in such a condition is difficult. Due to this many automobile companies are trying to research onto how an accident which occurs due to driver fatigue can be prevented. In this project we will generate a model which can prevent such an incident. The Purpose of such a model is to advance a system to detect fatigue symptoms in drivers and control the speed of vehicle to avoid accidents. The Purpose of such a model is to advance a system to detect fatigue symptoms in drivers and control

You must also focus your mind exclusively on your driving. A sober and well rested driver who is distracted, is as dangerous to others on the road as a drunk

It can be very dangerous when you first start driving. There is always a chance that you could get in a car wreck. You need to be cautious while driving because some people could be driving while under the influence and if possible they could hurt or kill you. A lot of people talk and text while driving and it causes a lot of wrecks. Also people need to watch for people or animals out in the road too.

There are a lot of ways to distract the driver's attention. Like talking to a passenger, eating, moving stuff around, and more. One of the major thing that distracts a driver’s attention is using their phones. Using devices while driving is like communicating with someone while driving but it’s much worse because it takes a lot of their attention. It is believed that having a mobile phone conversation (hand-held or hands-free) slows reaction times by 26.5%. Studies show that people's reaction are 50 percent slower when doing two different things at once. It is also found that the distraction caused by using a mobile phone when driving was worse than drinking alcohol. When a driver is distracted, it is more likely that this situation will cause

Road crashes can be caused by many different factors. These factors range and vary from driver carelessness to the condition of the road. One thing that is hardly taken into consideration is the mental state of the driver. Some drivers are prone to repeated episodes of risky driving (RD) and are over-represented in crashes and related morbidity. These cases of high risk driving can be attributed to the psychological condition of the driver, the age, and also the influence of alcohol or drugs on the driver. I am going to discuss how sleep patterns can affect the mental conditions of drivers and how frequent it is the cause of some road crashes.