TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of experience-based fatigue countermeasures
AU - Gershon, Pnina
AU - Shinar, David
AU - Ronen, Adi
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported in part by a contract from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, and by the Paul Ivanier Center for Robotics and Production Management, Ben Gurion University of the Negev. The contributions of Jesse Blatt in the early phases of this work are gratefully acknowledged. We also would like to thank Noam Ben-Asher and Yisrael Parmet for their useful advices in the data analysis.
PY - 2009/9/1
Y1 - 2009/9/1
N2 - Background and objective: Strategies adopted by drivers in order to cope with fatigue and falling asleep at the wheel include a variety of activities that may invigorate the body and/or the mind. The objectives of the current study were to examine the effectiveness of an energy drink and a non-traditional manual-dexterity/mastication activity as fatigue countermeasures. Method: Twenty subjects participated in this driving simulator study. Each driving session lasted 2 h and each driver drove under three conditions: after consumption of an energy drink, while engaged in a self-paced manual-dexterity/mastication secondary task (shelling and eating sunflower seeds), and in a control condition with neither. Fatigue effects were assessed on three dimensions: subjective evaluations (using the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory), a physiological indicator (heart rate variability), and driving performance measures (speed, steering, and lane deviations). Results: The subjective and physiological measures showed a significant effect of both treatments in counteracting the effects of fatigue when compared to the control condition. The results of the driving performance measures indicated that the energy drink was effective in counteracting fatigue, while the secondary task was as effective as the energy drink in counteracting fatigue on measures that did not rely on hand movements. Conclusions: Drinking an energy drink prior to the driving task has a significant, positive effect in counteracting fatigue, though it may have long-term negative rebound effects. The manual-dexterity/mastication secondary task can temporarily counteract the subjective and physiological effects of fatigue while driving, but can interfere with vehicle handling.
AB - Background and objective: Strategies adopted by drivers in order to cope with fatigue and falling asleep at the wheel include a variety of activities that may invigorate the body and/or the mind. The objectives of the current study were to examine the effectiveness of an energy drink and a non-traditional manual-dexterity/mastication activity as fatigue countermeasures. Method: Twenty subjects participated in this driving simulator study. Each driving session lasted 2 h and each driver drove under three conditions: after consumption of an energy drink, while engaged in a self-paced manual-dexterity/mastication secondary task (shelling and eating sunflower seeds), and in a control condition with neither. Fatigue effects were assessed on three dimensions: subjective evaluations (using the Swedish Occupational Fatigue Inventory), a physiological indicator (heart rate variability), and driving performance measures (speed, steering, and lane deviations). Results: The subjective and physiological measures showed a significant effect of both treatments in counteracting the effects of fatigue when compared to the control condition. The results of the driving performance measures indicated that the energy drink was effective in counteracting fatigue, while the secondary task was as effective as the energy drink in counteracting fatigue on measures that did not rely on hand movements. Conclusions: Drinking an energy drink prior to the driving task has a significant, positive effect in counteracting fatigue, though it may have long-term negative rebound effects. The manual-dexterity/mastication secondary task can temporarily counteract the subjective and physiological effects of fatigue while driving, but can interfere with vehicle handling.
KW - Fatigue countermeasures
KW - Fatigue in driving
KW - Human factors in driving
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67949123081&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.aap.2009.05.012
DO - 10.1016/j.aap.2009.05.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:67949123081
SN - 0001-4575
VL - 41
SP - 969
EP - 975
JO - Accident Analysis and Prevention
JF - Accident Analysis and Prevention
IS - 5
ER -