Driver fatigue a leading cause of car crashes

April 23, 2013

In recent years, distracted driving has received a great deal of attention from both lawmakers and safety experts as a serious threat on our nation's roadways. Although distracted driving is certainly a problem, a new study indicates that driver fatigue, though often overlooked, is a common factor in serious car accidents.

According to the results of a study released recently by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, fatigue is the cause of approximately 20 percent of all car accidents in the U.S. These findings are surprising because previous studies - based on surveys, simulator tests and test track runs - found that fatigue was a factor in only two to three percent of accidents. Researchers were also surprised to find that fatigue among drivers was more prevalent during daylight hours than it was at night.

According to the study, younger drivers between the ages of 18 and 20 are responsible for more fatigue related accidents than any other age group. Although older drivers also have difficulty with fatigued driving, their driving experience apparently allows them to deal with their sleepiness more effectively. It is also not uncommon for younger drivers to stay up late and get up early for school, a pattern that can cause daytime sleepiness.

Study methodology

The Virginia Tech study is noteworthy because it is "naturalistic," which means that data was collected in real time from drivers as they traveled on their daily commutes. Researchers selected 100 commuters who drive daily to work around Washington, D.C. for their study. Engineers designed systems that collected a variety of data from cars as people drove, including cameras, radar and lane sensing systems. Researchers also viewed 20,000 randomly selected short video clips collected from the cars' cameras to note any evidence of fatigued drivers. The study data was collected during 2003 and 2004.

Further research is needed

Overall, the study's authors estimate that a person increases his risk of causing an accident by four times when he chooses to drive while fatigued. Although the data set from the 100 car study has been helpful, it is only the tip of the iceberg. Researchers are currently working on designing larger studies to evaluate the problem of fatigued driving among teenagers. The results from another large, 2,000 car study are expected to further clarify the findings at Virginia Tech.

Unfortunately, it appears as if the problem of driver fatigue has been greatly underestimated.

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