Driver Fatigue and Road Accidents – a Literature Review and Position Paper

Driver fatigue (falling asleep at the wheel) is a major cause of road accidents, accounting for up to 20% of serious accidents on motorways and monotonous roads in Great Britain.

The purpose of this paper is to review published research and data concerning:

• The scale of the sleep related road accident problem
• The causes of driver fatigue
• Potential measures to reduce accidents caused by sleepy drivers

This literature review is part of a DETR grant-in-aid project to develop a “Journey Planner for Drivers” and to investigate the feasibility of electronic route planners automatically prompting drivers to take rest stops on long journeys and, where possible, providing other safety-related information.

The literature research was conducted through RoSPA’s Information Centre, a Transport 2000 CD-ROM and the internet. The main UK research considered in this report is the various studies into sleep related road accidents by Professor Horne at the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University, and TRL research. International studies, particularly from the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, have also been considered.

For the purposes of this report the terms “sleepiness”, “tiredness”, “drowsiness” and “fatigue” are used interchangeably, unless otherwise stated.