The increased sleepiness of drivers

7 July 2018

One of the catalysts of sleepiness was low frequency vibration

According to statistics, about 20% of fatal accidents occurred because of driver fatigue. However, experts believe that the condition of the person driving the quality and duration of sleep depends not all: drowsiness may attack even quite cheerful driver. Australian scientists from RMIT University have shown that drivers often begin to nod because of the natural low-frequency vibration of the vehicle.

According to the publication's website Science Daily, just 15 minutes behind the wheel of the vehicle with a high level of vibration is enough that the concentration and attention of the driver is significantly decreased. To prove it, needed to put the experiment with 15 volunteers. They sat in a simulator in which simulated measured movement at two-lane highway.

Some subjects were exposed to vibrations with low frequency 4-7 Hz. Other drivers were driving without any extraneous stimuli. Scientists noted the manifestation of clear signs of drowsiness from the subject from the first group within 15 minutes after the start of the experiment. After 30 minutes the attention was quite distracted, and to maintain the vigilance of the volunteers required significantly more effort than their colleagues from the second group. Drowsiness gradually increased during the test, reaching a peak within 60 minutes. As one of the criteria was the monitoring of heart rate.

Scientists RMIT University urged vehicle manufacturers to pay attention to this study. One of the cheapest ways to combat low-frequency vibration can be chairs special design.