Drowsiness is cited as a factor more frequently in truck crashes than in passenger car crashes. This may be because of greater exposure ¿ on average a truck travels 60,000 miles per year, while for passenger cars the yearly average is 11,000 miles. In addition, truck drivers may have work schedules that allow only restricted sleep. Citizens expect safe transportation facilities. In the 2003 Minnesota Statewide Transportation Plan regarding the safety and security of transportation systems (Policy #7 Guidance), Mn/DOT supports the Towards Zero Deaths vision and supports a multi-faceted, interagency approach to reducing fatalities using a wide variety of strategies, including education and enforcement. A potential strategy to reduce fatalities is focusing enforcement on impaired and/or aggressive driving (Statewide Transportation Plan, Table 6-1, Strategy C-4). Fatigue monitoring and checking devices, along with educational outreach regarding the effects of fatigue on driver performance, can be expected to produce a reduction in the number of fatigued drivers on the roads, thereby reducing the number and severity of highway crashes. Currently, there is no approved device, like the Breathalyzer, that measures some physical aspect of the driver to determine whether he or she is too fatigued to be driving. EyeCheckTM, or some similar device, may be able to do this. It is a binocular instrument that measures pupillary response to a light stimulus source. The study proposed here will investigate whether there are correlations between EyeCheckTM measurements, alcohol, sleep deprivation and driving performance.

This project will determine the extent to which sleep deprivation and alcohol affects various aspects of commercial vehicle driver performance¿e.g., steering behavior; velocity maintenance; the reaction to traffic lights; and the response to changes in road type. It will establish the extent to which sleep deprivation, driving performance, and impairment measures co-vary; and it is a step towards providing law enforcement officers a deployable impairment-measurement device. The primary objectives of this project are: ¿ To determine the effect of alcohol on driving performance, i.e., its effects on the ability of drivers to steer, to maintain speed, and to respond to late-changing traffic lights. This determination will be made by comparing the driving performance in the 9:00 p.m. drive of the participants who have had alcohol with the 9:00 p.m. drive of the participants in the Sleep Deprivation part of the program. ¿ To determine whether the impairing effects of alcohol are similar to (or worse than) the impairing effects of sleep deprivation on driving performance. ¿ To compare the correlation between alcohol-impaired drivers and their Breathalyzer responses with the correlation between sleep-deprived drivers and their response to the EyeCheckTM device. ¿ To provide State Patrol reliable benchmark data documenting the correlation between checking devices and driving performance impairment. To carry out these objectives, driving performance data and various measures of impairment will be collected from a minimum of 20 subjects over a 20-hour period. During this period, the subjects will be continuously kept awake. The driving performance data will be collected while each subject drives in a driving simulator. In addition, impairment will be assessed with various measurement instruments, including EyeCheckTM, the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT), and the digit symbol substitution test (DSST).

In this program, which will be conducted simultaneously with a study of the effects of sleep deprivation on driving performance (which is already funded¿by RSPA). we will conduct a driving simulation experiment. In it, we will collect driving performance data and various measures of impairment from a minimum of 20 subjects. In addition, to the driving performance collected during the driving simulation sessions, we will assess impairment with various measurement instruments¿including EyeCheckTM, the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT), and the digit symbol substitution test (DSST). We will provide a technical report describing the study, its results and their implications. And, if we establish reliable relationships between driving performance impairment and the checking devices, the results will be formulated in a way that facilitates their use by law enforcement officers.

Anticipated participation is 9 states (including Minnesota) at $13,000 per state