Citation

Mulhall MD, Cori J, Sletten TL, Kuo J, Lenné MG, Magee M, Spina MA, Collins A, Anderson C, Rajaratnam SMW, Howard ME. Accid. Anal. Prev. 2019; 135: e105386.

Affiliation

School of Psychological Sciences and Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Cooperative Research Centre for Alertness, Safety and Productivity, Melbourne, Australia; Institute for Breathing and Sleep, Austin Health, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: Mark.Howard@austin.org.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.aap.2019.105386

PMID

31805427

Abstract

Sleepiness is a major contributor to motor vehicle crashes and shift workers are particularly vulnerable. There is currently no validated objective field-based measure of sleep-related impairment prior to driving. Ocular parameters are promising markers of continuous driver alertness in laboratory and track studies, however their ability to determine fitness-to-drive in naturalistic driving is unknown. This study assessed the efficacy of a pre-drive ocular assessment for predicting sleep-related impairment in naturalistic driving, in rotating shift workers. Fifteen healthcare workers drove an instrumented vehicle for 2 weeks, while working a combination of day, evening and night shifts. The vehicle monitored lane departures and behavioural microsleeps (blinks >500 ms) during the drive. Immediately prior to driving, ocular parameters were assessed with a 4-min test. Lane departures and behavioural microsleeps occurred on 17.5 % and 10 % of drives that had pre-drive assessments, respectively. Pre-drive blink duration significantly predicted behavioural microsleeps and showed promise for predicting lane departures (AUC = 0.79 and 0.74). Pre-drive percentage of time with eyes closed had high accuracy for predicting lane departures and behavioural microsleeps (AUC = 0.73 and 0.96), although was not statistically significant. Pre-drive psychomotor vigilance task variables were not statistically significant predictors of lane departures. Self-reported sleep-related and hazardous driving events were significantly predicted by mean blink duration (AUC = 0.65 and 0.69). Measurement of ocular parameters pre-drive predict drowsy driving during naturalistic driving, demonstrating potential for fitness-to-drive assessment in operational environments.

Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Driving impairment; Drowsy driving; Fatigue; Ocular measures; Predicting performance