Traditional approaches to the development and implementation of countermeasures for young driver fatigue crashes have had limited success, but a new approach presents opportunities for significant reductions in young driver fatalities and injuries. Estimates of the percentage of crashes that are partially or completely attributable to fatigue range from 1 to 56 percent, depending on the database examined, the level of detail gathered from crash investigations, and the study methodology employed. Young drivers are over-represented in these studies. Fatigue related driver recognition failures account for up to 50 percent of young driver crashes and practical countermeasures based on recent developments in sleep science are the key to reducing young driver crashes. This paper presents the accident risks for young drivers which are associated with sleep related fatigue, the key accident factors and the practical countermeasures that could be implemented to reduce young driver crashes resulting in fatalities or injuries. (Author/publisher) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E205827.
Abstract