PROSPECTS FOR TECHNOLOGICAL COUNTERMEASURES AGAINST DRIVER FATIGUE

There are three reasons for giving serious consideration to technologi cal countermeasures against driver fatigue: 1, fatigue is a persistent occupational hazard for professional drivers; 2, some professional dr ivers are under considerable pressure to reach their scheduled destina tion, in spite of feeling drowsy; 3, fatigue adversely affects an indi vidual's ability to assess their own fitness to continue driving. Howe ver, there are two reasons for exercising caution in implementing tech nological countermeasures: 1, their reliability under real traffic con ditions is largely unproven; 2, they could be used by unscrupulous dri vers to support the continuation of journeys that should have been ter minated because of human impairment. This paper draws on the findings of research into the origins, symptoms and development of human fatigu e, and on recent research into driver support systems, to assess the p rospects for implementations of technological countermeasures against driver fatigue in the foreseeable future. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Lt d.