The DLR working group Transport Safety |
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Background
To combat drivers' fatigue and to improve transport safety, the Department of Traffic Safety at the German Aerospace Center has adopted a holistic approach to alertness management including a variety of measures. All these activities are based on a three-component model of fatigue considering the main factors causing fatigue, i.e. time of day or circadian rhythm, time since last sleep, and time on task.
Predicting fatigue with the computer programme "ALERT"
The three component model of fatigue is implemented in a computer program named "ALERT". This programme can predict fatigue over the course of a drive and generate suggestions as to when breaks should be made to prevent phases of critically increased fatigue. With the help of ALERT schedules and rosters can be compared regarding their effects on fatigue. The programme is used for the training programme "SAFE-T", which takes both the drivers and the schedulers into account and deals with causes of fatigue and strategies of prevention.
Additional measures
Next to SAFE-T, other strategies are applied:
- individual people and companies may be counseled, e.g. regarding the chronobiological and other physiological and psychological factors causing fatigue,
- as alertness management is also a political topic insights from sleep research and alertness management programmes have to reach the persons in charge to be implemented in adequate regularizations,
- campaigns can be mounted to increase public interest in the issue of fatigue (e.g. by means of the distribution of brochures etc),
- alertness management strategies can be implemented in the scope of driving schools and their instructions,
- medical screening procedures with respect to daytime sleepiness are possible,
- fit-for-driving tests may be presented to the driver to prove if his status allows for the beginning of duty.
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