A new study reveals fatigue plays a larger role in car crashes than previously estimated. A 100-car naturalist driving study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has concluded that fatigue is the leading cause of 20% of crashes, and 16% of near crashes, rather than the previously estimated 2-3%.
The study initially recruited a total of 100 drivers commuting in and out of the Northern Virginia/Washington, D.C., metropolitan area for the research project (due to participants lending their car to friends and family, data was ultimately collected from an additional 132 drivers). Video cameras, sensors, lane tracking software and various other radars were installed in the vehicles of all participants.
Over the course of the study, researchers recorded more than 110,000 events, including 82 crashes; 761 near crashes; 8,295 incidents, such as braking hard for slowing or stopped traffic; and 1,423 non-conflict events, such as running a stop light with no traffic present.
In addition, researchers viewed 20,000 randomly selected six-second video segments and noted incidents of moderate to severe driver fatigue, providing an estimate of the amount of time drivers were fatigued but were not involved in a crash or near-crash. Thirty-eight fatigue-related crashes and near-crashes, were recorded with 11 drivers accounting for 58% of all the fatigue-related incidents.
The study also determined that adolescence (18- to 20-year-olds) account for significantly more fatigue-related crashes than any other age group. Researchers attribute this to their sleep patterns resulting in daytime sleepiness.
“One of the most important results from the 100-car naturalistic driving study was the degree to which fatigue is a cause of accidents,” said Charlie Klauer, group leader for teen risk and injury prevention at the transportation institute’s Center for Vulnerable Road User Safety. “A finding that surprised people is the prevalence of fatigue during the day. We found significantly more crashes/near crashes due to fatigue during the day than at night.”