P. Philip et al., Simple reaction time, duration of driving and sleep deprivation in young versus old automobile drivers, J SLEEP RES, 8(1), 1999, pp. 9-14
Car accidents are one of the major causes of death in modern society and sl
eepiness is identified as one major risk factor. The purposes of the presen
t study were: (1) to relate the sleep loss and driving time to a performanc
e indicator and (2) to identify risk factors of performance decrement. We i
nvestigated 294 drivers (age < 30 years, n = 100; age 2 30 years, n = 194)
who drove into a rest stop area. All were asked to fill out a questionnaire
about the drive and previous sleep/wake pattern, and to carry out a 10 min
, simple reaction time (RT) test. The level of performance is identified by
the 10% slowest RTs. Multiple regression analysis, with the mean of the 10
0/o Slowest RTs as the dependent variable, showed that age, duration of dri
ve, and duration (shortness) of previous breaks were the main predictors. O
ur study suggests that public awareness may need to be raised with respect
excessive length of driving, especially in young drivers.