In recent years fatigue has been considered a primary contributory factor in road crashes. However, precise identification of fatigue-related crashes is hindered by the absence of a universally accepted definition of fatigue. Furthermore, it is difficult to quantify the level of driver fatigue due to difficulties in objectively measuring the degree of fatigue involved in a crash. To overcome these obstacles the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has proposed an operational definition of a fatigue-related crash. The definition is based on a set of well-researched selection criteria and uses crash characteristics routinely collected by different traffic authorities. This definition should be useful in monitoring fatigue-related crashes and gauging trends over time or between regions. Using the ATSB operational definition, the proportion of fatal crashes involving driver fatigue increased initially in the early 1990s, and then decreased in the late 1990s. The study suggests that the operational definition provides a practical and useful index of the relative incidence of fatigue-related crashes. (Author/publisher)
Abstract