Sleepy Drivers

                                        Sleepy Drivers

Sleep is the most important thing for all human beings. Every person needs to get an average of 7-8 hours of sleep every day to function on daily bases. Sleep in associated with many things, such as concentration, eating habits, activeness of the person, and at the risk of many diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, depression, and strokes. Also sleep can affect the social interactions. 

There is major problem with the Drowsy Driving around the world mostly in the United States. The drowsiness is a problem while driving because these drivers are at very high risk of danger. These drivers are drowsy because they don't get enough sleep, which makes them lose concentration on driving. Drowsiness effects the ability of a person to drive safely. Usually these drivers don't pay that much of attention to the road. They react slowly, even if they should brake. And it also affects their ability to think and make good decisions. 

There are many different kind of drivers out there with drowsiness problems. The major population of drowsy drivers are then truck drivers, bus drivers, and tow truck drivers. Another major population late night or overnight shift workers. These are major population in drowsy driving because most of these people work over night. The truck drivers drive mostly in the nights which affects their regular sleeping hours and don't get enough sleep. People that work over night shifts are also victims of drowsy drivers because there sleeping cycles are effected too as they don't sleep. 

In the recent statistics, it shown that majority of accidents that happen on the roads is because of sleepy drivers. Statistics have shown in the year 2015, that drowsy driving caused 824 deaths. To stop all this all the drivers, need to fix a sleeping schedule and get at least 7 hours of sleep every day. Since it is hard for everyone, researches have come up with sensors that can detect a sleepy driver. 

The researchers are working to come with a sensor which can detect a drowsy driver. The sensor will be placed in the driver’s seat which can detect the drowsy driver by their heart rate and breathing levels. If the sensor detects that driver is sleepy then it will make a coffee sing blink next to driver seat, which means that driver needs to stay awake. This product has been invented for expensive cars such as Audi and Mercedes Benz cars. This is a very good invention because it can decrease the number of accidents that's been causing by the drowsy drivers. 

This topic caught my attention when Dr. Baura gave presentation on "The sleep in Long- Haul Truck Drivers", in a Neuroscience seminar at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Baura talked about how the long-haul truck drivers have safety issues while driving because of their sleep deprivation. They have done a research 20 male truck drivers who driving the produce loads. On average, these drivers mostly get only about 5.38 hours of sleep, and doing 10-hour day schedule. They have come with a technology which is perclos, which is used to monitor the eyelid closure over time. This is placed under the eye. When it detects that person is falling asleep it will vibrate and alerts the driver to sleep.  Sensors like these will reduce the accidents that are caused by drowsy drivers. No matter how many sensors they invent its driver’s responsibility to get good about of sleep and function better.  If driver is sleepy hit the bed not the road. 

Citations: 

Taub, Eric A. “Sleepy Behind the Wheel? Some Cars Can Tell.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/16/automobiles/wheels/drowsy-driving-technology.html.

NEJM_TruckDrivers.Pdf | Powered By Box, luc.app.box.com/v/neuroseminar/file/251218239087.

“CDC Features.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7 Nov. 2017, www.cdc.gov/features/dsdrowsydriving/index.html.