Showing posts with label drowsy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drowsy. Show all posts

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Automaker offers curb drowsy driving

Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau

You've ever even behind the wheel nodded caught? It would be not alone. More than a third of all drivers admit they have done this at some time or another and drowsy driving begins to blame for at least 100,000 crashes and more than 1,500 deaths per year in the United States.

Notes a new study by the Centers for disease control, that while driving at least once during the previous month - tell each 24 adults in the United States, have fallen asleep, and experts believe this number that "Micro sleep." is low, because drivers often do not recognize if she had one or two seconds

Sleep even a moment can be disastrous, when you consider that at only 60 miles per hour, that such a vehicle is 88 ft travel, or about four to five car lengths.

"If I'm on the road, I would be a little worried about the other drivers" after reading the results of the study, said lead author Anne Wheaton of the CDC.

The telephone survey stretched 147.076 adults in 19 States and the District of Columbia, making it the largest survey of its kind. It found that 4 percent of respondents said she've been nodded at least once during the previous month way.

100,000 Crashes a year
Even more cause for concern were carried earlier studies, such as one by the National Sleep Foundation in 2005. The NSF reported that 60 percent of adults sleepy drove driver of a vehicle during at least once during the previous year, while 37 percent, that she are actually out nodded. And those that sleep recognized, 13 percent indicated that that they routinely acts, at least once in the month.

The Foundation's sleep study also showed that 4 per cent recorded the survey pool, either an accident or an accident near because they were drowsy or asleep at the wheel.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration an estimated 100,000 crashes a year caused by sleepy drivers - what an estimated 40,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths each year.

The latest research findings, the CDC found that men tend to doze off behind the wheel, as drivers in the ages between 25 and 34, and those who get regularly less than six hours of sleep per night. An earlier Gallup survey found that men twice as often as women to drive sleepy.

The challenge for researchers is to get accurate results, how all sleepy drive differently defined and have can be from often unaware that she actually nodded for a second or two motorists.

Kfz-Technik
A study by the Virginia Tech transportation Institute used cameras and other sensors in 100 vehicles to see what happens on the road. Although the numbers were small, allowed the one-year study researchers project, the sleepiness to a certain degree, 20 percent of all crashes contributed. You appreciate that a driver is drowsy four to six times more likely to be a collision as involved, which is wide awake.

It may be difficult for the police to identify a drowsy driver in contrast to drunken drivers. But motorists even addressed new technology warnings. A number of vehicles, including products from Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, are programmed on-site sign that sleepy is a driver. Some are looking for specific steering wheel inputs, another system to a camera on the driver's face.

Most of the technologies, just try to identify a driver, if that happens, perhaps through a coffee cup emblem somewhere on the dash blinks or a gong sound.

Ford has added a drowsy driving warning, which it with the optional new lane-keeping assist system on the 2013 has coupled the fusion sedan. It uses a forward-facing camera order for visible road markings, alerting the driver through the steering wheel to vibrate when the system senses the car drift out of its lane to see.

"We found the driver languages we definitely inclined towards characteristics were the real practical benefit of inform them about potentially dangerous situations that they missed," after Billy Mann, Managing Director of the Penn Schoen Berland survey consider a current for Ford, as consumers responded to new security technology.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Automakers take aim at drowsy driving



Daimler



The Mercedes-Benz Attention Assist system will flash a warning if a motorist appears to be ready to doze off.


By Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau


If you’ve ever felt yourself nodding off when you’ve spent a little too much time behind the wheel you’re not alone. According to a recent study by the AAA Foundation more than two in five drivers admit they’ve fallen asleep, even for a moment, when driving.


While most motorists now recognize the dangers of drunk driving, AAA officials fear that there’s a more casual attitude when it comes to drowsy driving.  But new technology is designed to not only alert drivers who have begun to drift off while behind the wheel but also help them avoid an accident.


Calling drowsy driving a “serious concern,” Ford Motor Co.’s global product chief Derrick Kuzak recently revealed that the maker’s updated 2013 Lincoln MKS sedan will be able to tell when a driver is distracted or, worse, beginning to doze.  The luxury model’s Lane Keeping System will initially sound an alert if the vehicle drifts out of its lane.  If necessary, it will then add a bit of torque to the steering wheel to gently nudge the MKS back into its lane.


If the system senses that the driver is repeatedly drifting it assumes it’s time for a break and will flash a coffee cup-shaped warning to alert the driver to stop an rest.


Lincoln’s new system – which will also be available on the 2013 MKT crossover – is the latest in an array of new technologies designed to keep track of drivers and warn them when they may be over-tired.  In some of its models, Lexus uses a special camera designed to watch head movements, which can provide the telltale first signs of drowsy driving.  Mercedes-Benz, meanwhile, tracks driver inputs through the steering wheel with its Attention Assist system and will also flash a warning if a motorists appears to be ready to doze off.


The problem is not insignificant.  Though 96% of those surveyed by AAA said that drowsy driving is unacceptable, nearly one in three, or 32%, admitted doing it in just the past month, and one in 10 acknowledged actually falling asleep behind the wheel at some point during the previous year.


“Although the vast majority of drivers recognize the serious threat of drowsy driving, a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ attitude exists when getting behind the wheel. Drowsy driving kills, just as sure as drunk, drugged and distracted driving does,” AAA Foundation president and CEO Peter Kissinger said in a foundation news release. “Drivers have a tendency to underestimate the impact being tired has on their driving ability, which puts themselves and others at risk.”


The safety organization suggests there are a number of signs to watch for: including   difficulty keeping your eyes open and focused; difficulty keeping your head up; drifting from your lane; hitting rumble strips; missing traffic signs or driving past your exit; yawning repeatedly and rubbing your eyes; or feeling irritable and restless.


Safety experts suggest that it’s a good idea to travel when you’d normally be awake and take an overnight break rather than pressing on during a long trip.  Other tips to minimize drowsy driving include:

Taking a break very two hours or 100 miles;Pulling over when you feel tired rather than pressing on;Handing over the wheel to a passenger who’s more awake. AndDrinking a caffeinated beverage.

But be aware that caffeine takes about a half hour to enter the bloodstream so don’t simply grab a soft drink or energy drink at the rest stop and pull back on the road.  Give it some time to take effect before driving again.