NHTSA Wants to Fight Drowsy Driving

The NHTSA wants to crack down on drowsy drivers! Could this effect the over-night-transport industry?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) intends to reduce the number of drowsy drivers. Mark Rosekind, the administrator of NHTSA, revealed in Chicago yesterday that the agency wants to concentrate its efforts on lowering driving in a drowsy state.

He said, “What we do know is that, while not everybody drinks, or texts, or speeds, lack of sleep is a problem we all face. And falling asleep at the wheel at 70 mph is a recipe for tragedy.”

The announcement follows recent reports from the NHTSA that drunken driving has reduced in the U.S by as much as 21% since 2003. The use of seatbelts has gone up to 87% and deaths related to distracted-driving have gone down to 6.7% in 2013 from 2012.

As compared to crashes related to alcohol usage, no measurable tests are there to find out the role of sleepiness at the site of a car crash. However, Mark Rosekind, an expert on human fatigue and a former NASA scientist, reported “we’re going to develop strategies specifically targeting populations especially vulnerable to drowsy driving.”

Car manufacturers have recently been introducing new technology in their vehicles to alert drivers who seem to be falling asleep while driving. Such technologies, like “attention assist”, can be noticed in models of Mercedes-Benz and it observes the behavior of drivers and makes use of sensors in order to sense the motions of the steering wheel. In case the system senses that a driver is falling asleep behind the wheels, a warning flash as well as an audible alarm will serve as notifications.

Rosekind said, “We’re going to comprehensively examine the role that driver aids, in the car and outside of it, can play,” and he further added that “Everything from high-tech solutions like computer algorithms that detect when you’re getting sleepy behind the wheel, to old standbys like rumble strips on the road.”

Even though he did not specifically give more details, he confirmed that more data will be gathered by the NHTSA about the causes of tired or drowsy driving and its prevalence, begin public awareness campaigns regarding the risks of tired driving and determining whether the greatest effect will result from technical or legal solutions.

Source: Data and information presented on this blog have been sourced http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2015/03/nhtsa-wants-to-fight-drowsy-driving.html