Driver fatigue is a common challenge that can have serious detrimental effects on drivers, carriers and the motoring public. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has amassed a significant amount of data surrounding driver fatigue over multiple decades, revealing that as many as 65% of drivers admit to driving while drowsy during a given year.
Drivers – in both trucks and passenger vehicles – are more likely to make mistakes when drowsy. These mistakes can have life-threatening consequences. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 18% of all fatal vehicle crashes between 2017 and 2021 involved a drowsy driver. During that span, almost 30,000 people were killed in drowsiness-related incidents.
The NHTSA data represents all fatal crashes, not just those involving commercial vehicles. But professional drivers often work in conditions that naturally lend themselves to drowsiness, including overnight driving and long hours on the road.
The potentially deadly impact of unchecked fatigue can also come with devastating financial consequences for carriers.
“This is roughly a $20 billion problem,” Netradyne Senior Product Manager Matt Thornton said. “It is a safety problem, but it is also a financial problem.”
Safety solution provider Netradyne is working to help drivers and safety managers identify drowsy driving in real time and prevent accidents before they occur. The company is doing this through the introduction of its DMS Sensor.
The sensor is designed to detect drowsy driving cues – like yawning, head nodding and changes in blinking patterns – with industry-leading precision. Netradyne’s primary in-cab camera sits at the top center of the windshield and monitors the entire cab from above. The drowsiness sensor is laser-focused on the driver. It is positioned slightly downward on the dashboard looking slightly upward to accurately differentiate between eye movements that are associated with falling asleep and instances when the driver is simply looking down.
“This piece of technology is made to assist the driver. It is driver-first technology,” Thornton said. “Its purpose is to keep them awake on the road. It is not designed to be punitive.”
When the sensor detects drowsy driving behavior, the driver gets the first line of alerts. These in-cab audio signals are designed to restore the driver’s alertness. From there, safety managers and other operational personnel are also alerted to the event, enabling them to make important safety decisions in the moment.
Advocating for drivers is a thread that runs through Netradyne’s entire suite of products.
Netradyne’s Driver•i multicamera solution is engineered to create a culture of safety by catching drivers doing the right thing, not just calling them out for potential infractions. When fleets use Netradyne’s Driver•i solution, 100% of the driving time is captured and analyzed, and drivers are assigned a score. This GreenZone Score considers both positive and risky driving behaviors. A scientific approach that leverages large amounts of fleet and driver data in a calculation ensures that drivers with a history of positive decision-making can see that reflected back to them in a tangible way.
“We want to encourage positive safety discussions, and that starts with focusing on drivers and helping them avoid getting into serious and dangerous situations like driving while drowsy,” Thornton said.
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