Preventing drowsiness accidents by an alertness maintenance device.

Area of Science:

• Human Factors
• Transportation Safety
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Prolonged driving can induce drowsiness, impairing alertness and increasing accident risk.
• Maintaining driver alertness is crucial for road safety, especially under fatiguing conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effectiveness of a game-like system ('gamebox') in maintaining driver alertness during drowsiness-inducing conditions.
• To assess the impact of the gamebox on drowsiness, mental effort, driving quality, and safety.

Main Methods:

• An advanced driving simulator was used to induce drowsiness in participants.
• Drowsiness was measured via self-ratings and eye-closure duration.
• Mental effort was assessed using subjective workload scales and heart rate variability (0.1 Hz component).
• Driving performance was evaluated through steering movements, time-to-line crossings, and safety-related errors (e.g., lane departures, accidents).

Main Results:

• Drivers using the gamebox reported significantly less drowsiness and fewer sleep episodes compared to a control group.
• The gamebox condition led to a reduction in driving incidents and accidents, with these occurring later in the driving session.
• While driving quality generally declined over time, the deterioration was less pronounced when using the gamebox.
• Physiological and subjective measures indicated that the gamebox required mental effort, potentially counteracting fatigue.

Conclusions:

• Mental activity, such as that engaged by the gamebox, can effectively counteract drowsiness during prolonged driving.
• The gamebox system shows promise as a tool to enhance driver alertness and improve safety in fatiguing driving scenarios.