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ASTiD was launched in March 2003 in the UK’s Commercial Vehicle Show at the Birmingham NEC and in its inaugural year won in the category of “Vehicle Safety Invention” at the BRAKE Fleet Safety Forum “Awards for Excellence” Dinner in December 2003. What does ASTiD monitor? ASTiD continually assesses the various factors known to contribute to, or to be indicative of, driver tiredness. The assessment of these factors is used to produce both visual and audible alarms. These alarms warn drivers that they may be getting tired before they themselves are aware of the onset of dangerous fatigue. In calculating the likely degree of driver fatigue, ASTiD takes into account the following: Time of day: Circadian rhythms’ analysis shows that there are two peaks for tiredness – in the early hours of the morning and late afternoon Quality of prior sleep: Lack of sleep affects driver performance and exacerbates the time-of-day effect The length and type of driving: ASTiD determines both the length of driving time and whether the vehicle is being driven under monotonous conditions, such as motorways or highways Vehicle movement: Using a state-of-the-art
sensor, ASTiD is continuously assessing the steering movements of
the vehicle as changes in the number of steering movement and/or
exaggerated corrections can also be indicative of tiredness and
provide clues as to the driver’s mental alertness. A user guide
When asked about driver fatigue, many people will think of the latter stages of tiredness denoted by head nodding, droopy eyes, lane drifting and then running off the road. It is at these later stages that many other systems try to revive you. In our opinion, that is too little too late. Research at Loughborough concludes that as tiredness increases, so does the driver’s impairment thus producing a directly proportional increase in minor and major accidents If you superimpose the cost of an average fatality, which Department of Transport figures suggest could be as high as £1.2m, you can very quickly see that not only can ASTiD potentially prevent serious injuries and death on our roads, but it can be used as strategic tool to enable increased profitability back into the business. Falling asleep at the wheel is worsened by inadequate sleep, monotonous roads and driving when our body clock is at its low ebb (Circadian rhythms), especially at around 2- 6am and mid-afternoon. However, research shows that drivers are quite aware of sleepiness well before lane drifting (typifying sleepy driving) or running of the road occurs. Moreover, drivers will do things to keep themselves awake, such as winding down the window or putting on the cold air blower, which, apart from being useless at overcoming sleepiness, are self-evident to a driver that he or she is sleepy. Too many drivers fail to appreciate that fighting sleep like this makes it likely that they will fall asleep. Listening to the radio can even distract sleepy drivers from being aware of their sleepiness and driving impairment.
ASTiD has the ability to download its driving data in the unfortunate case of an accident. This will help companies to profile the driver from the start of their shift and discover if the driver reset the system and made a sleep input and, if an alarm was sounded, if the driver took the necessary cause of action, which would be to find a safe place to stop and take a break. Research shows that a 15 minute cat nap is very effective. Companies, more than ever now have a duty of care to their drivers and other road users as the introduction of the “Homicide Bill” for corporate manslaughter means that, not only drivers, but also company executives would be made liable for imprisonment should the case be proven against them. Remember you cannot fall a sleep at the wheel without being aware
of it.
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