Citation

Wolkow AP, Rajaratnam SMW, Anderson C, Howard ME, Mansfield D. Intern. Med. J. 2019; 49(9): 1181-1184.

Affiliation

Sleep Disorders Unit Monash Health, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/imj.14423

PMID

31507045

Abstract

The Australian National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 framed a 19-point action plan targeting a 30% reduction in road deaths by 2020. In achieving a 9% reduction to date, it is likely to fail this target. Sleep disorders and sleep loss did not feature prominently in this strategy, despite their high prevalence and effect on drowsiness and crashes. This article gathers sleep experts to provide recommendations addressing driver education and legislation to assist the response to this public health problem. Developments in drowsiness detection and sleep disorders management are also presented that offer innovative countermeasures that could enhance road safety beyond 2020.

© 2019 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Language: en

Keywords

accident prevention; safety; sleep; sleep wake disorder; transportation