SmartCap fights driver fatigue

SmartCap is a new type of high-tech headgear that promises to let drivers know when they are becoming too tired to drive.

Driver fatigue results in many thousands of road collisions each year, and while it is not possible to know the precise number of crashes caused by tiredness, research shows that lack of sleep may be a contributory factor in up to one quarter of fatal and serious road traffic collisions.

Every type of motorist puts themself and others in potential danger when they drive while tired, but lorry drivers pose a particular risk because they tend to be on the road for long stretches at a time and their vehicles are so heavy.

Aimed at helping to make lorries safer, the SmartCap is a conventional-looking baseball cap that hides within its lining a bank of tiny sensors capable of monitoring the wearer’s brain waves for drowsiness.

The information is transmitted to a display on the dashboard, or to any Bluetooth-enabled device, and a warning is shown the driver is becoming tired.

Driving when tired

• There is no excuse for falling asleep at the wheel and it is not an excuse in law
• Up to one in five of collisions on motorways and other monotonous types of roads may be caused by drivers falling asleep at the wheel
• Lifestyles that involve early morning starts, shift work and late night socialising often lead to excessive tiredness by preventing adequate rest
• All drivers who fall asleep at the wheel have a degree of warning
• Natural sleepiness/tiredness occurs after eating a large meal
• Changes in body rhythm produce a natural increased tendency to sleep between 12am – 6am and 2pm – 4pm
• Although no one should drink and drive at any time, alcohol consumed in the afternoon may be twice as potent in terms of producing as the same amount taken in the evening.
• Prescribed or over-the-counter medication can cause sleepiness as a side effect. Always check the label.

It happened to me: I fell asleep at the wheel

I have always been aware of the dangers of falling asleep at the wheel and on long journeys I take regular breaks – I find a large cup of strong coffee and then immediately following that a twenty minute sleep can be very restorative. Last year, I had a terrifically close call. I woke that day feeling terrible, but the ETA’s custom bicycle, The Hornster, was to be photographed by the press in London that morning and needed to be delivered by van. All went well and on the return journey I stopped to take a dose of paracetamol. Less than twenty minutes later, it happened. One moment I was travelling at 50mph in lane two of a motorway, the next my passenger was shouting my name. I had fallen asleep and the van had started to veer towards the nearside crash barriers. It was a terrifying experience and a powerful lesson in how fatigue caused by illness and over-the-counter medicine can overcome a driver in an instant.