Driver fatigue is widely believed to be the cause of one in five fatal crashes on our roads. Historically, major accidents attributed to errors made by fatigued individuals include the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl nuclear power plant accidents, and more recently, the Selby rail crash. Driver fatigue can severely impair judgment and can affect anyone. It has a negative impact on your reaction time, your ability to concentrate and your general understanding of the road and traffic around you. It is particularly dangerous because one of the symptoms is decreased ability to judge our own level of tiredness. The actual number of fatigue-related vehicle crashes is often understated because people are reluctant to admit to falling asleep at the wheel, and after falling asleep many drivers do not recollect having felt sleepy beforehand. The Driver Fatigue Monitor gives an early warning to make the driver aware of their drowsiness well before it reaches a critical level.

Contributory factors towards drivers being tired include recent sleep loss, the time spent driving/working, and the stage of a person’s circadian rhythm (body-clock), with the period between midnight to 6am viewed as the most dangerous time for fatigue related accidents. Research has shown that nearly 40% of accidents occur during the night-time hours of 7pm to 6am, even though generally these hours are associated with fewer vehicles on the road. However as company practices becomes more suited to a 24 hour economy, this is increasingly leading to more drivers using the roads during these hours, causing the risk of driver fatigue accidents to increase.

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