Do repeated rumble strip hits improve driver alertness?

Abstract

SummaryDriving while sleepy is associated with increased crash risk. Rumble strips are designed to alert a sleepy or inattentive driver when they deviate outside their driving lane. The current study sought to examine the effects of repeated rumble strip hits on levels of physiological and subjective sleepiness as well as simulated driving performance. In total, 36 regular shift workers drove a high-fidelity moving base simulator on a simulated road with rumble strips installed at the shoulder and centre line after a working a full night shift. The results show that, on average, the first rumble strip occurred after 20 min of driving, with subsequent hits occurring 10 min later, with the last three occurring approximately every 5 min thereafter. Specifically, it was found that the first rumble strip hit reduced physiological sleepiness; however, subsequent hits did not increase alertness. Moreover, the results also demonstrate that increased subjective sleepiness levels, via the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale, were associated with a greater probability of hitting a rumble strip. The present results suggest that sleepiness is very resilient to even strongly arousing stimuli, with physiological and subjective sleepiness increasing over the duration of the drive, despite the interference caused by rumble strips.

Detecting Driver Sleepiness Using Consumer Wearable Devices in Manual and Partial Automated Real-Road Driving

“…The KSS has been validated against performance tasks and EEG variables in laboratory settings and it is related to driving performance in simulator and real driving [1], [50], [51]. In this study KSS = 7 was selected as threshold for classification as studies have demonstrated that KSS level 8 and 9 are clearly associated with driving performance impairment and physiological changes [1], [52], [53]. Using KSS will not identify exact occurrence of microsleep events, which causes deterioration in driving performance [54], and current 5-min HRV processing window may not be suitable to precisely locate microsleep events that usually have a duration of few seconds.…”

Sensitivity and specificity of the driver sleepiness detection methods using physiological signals: A systematic review

“…This procedure allowed for clear separation of the two classification states. Several studies show KSS values of 8 or more clearly demonstrate sleepiness-related impairment (Ingre et al, 2006;Watling et al, 2016) and, importantly, are predictive of a greater likelihood of on-road sleep-related crashes (Åkerstedt et al, 2008). Though, it should be noted that KSS ratings, like any subjective/self-report data, are subject to bias and can be influenced by the context (monotonous settings, light levels, social interaction) when ratings are obtained (Åkerstedt et al, 2014).…”

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Performance during a Change Signal Task with Adaptive Dynamics

“…Alternative, proactive means of preventing fatigue-related errors may involve "smart" or dynamic adaptations to changes in performance or other signs of fatigue (e.g., through systems that monitor the physiological status of an individual through heart rate variability, eye gaze, or other metrics and modify workload or other task variables accordingly) [15]. However, the effectiveness of such safety features may be diminished when individuals are sleep-deprived [16][17][18].…”