Effective Control Transport Inc. (fka EFFC)

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Drowsy driving serious danger

http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/ci_8335403

Drowsy driving serious danger
More than 1,550 die annually
By KAREN McINTYRE - DN Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 02/22/2008 09:40:46 AM PST

There is a danger, consequence and stigma about driving drunk that prevents many people from doing it, but most drivers don't feel guilty about getting behind the wheel while they are tired.

According to staff at Effective Control Transport, drowsy driving is just as dangerous as drunk driving.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that drowsy driving causes at least 100,000 police-reported crashes and kills more than 1,550 Americans each year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that road accidents are the No. 1 killer in the workplace, mainly affecting truck drivers and traveling salespeople.

The National Sleep Foundation says fatigued driving is under-recognized and underreported.

Engineers at Effective Control Transport, a company registered in Delaware with a corporate office in Montreal, Canada, and a lab in Anaheim, designed a device that measures how tired drivers are in an effort to tackle the problem of drowsy driving.

Tackling drowsy driving
The Folo Cognitive Resource Availability Manager, or Folo CRAM, is an infrared camera that shines an invisible light on the driver's face, measuring facial patterns and alerting the driver of his or her level of fatigue, said Gib de Medeiros, vice president of marketing for Effective Control Transport and one of the engineers for the device.

Research for the Folo CRAM began three years ago, but the device is based on 10-year-old studies from inventor Bruno
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Fardos.

The camera sits on top of a black box which analyzes the images recorded, Medeiros said. The Folo CRAM measures components of the face and how they evolve over time, such as how quickly the driver's eyes close. Levels of fatigue are measured in real time and shown to the driver by a light that changes from green to yellow to red and ultimately to flashing red when the driver has reached a dangerous level of fatigue, Medeiros said. Based on the light, drivers will know when they need to pull over, take a walk or stop for a nap.

Medeiros said he hopes the Folo CRAM will become as natural and non-negotiable as a fuel gauge and that it will calculate how long someone can drive before stopping for rest. Drivers can feel refreshed after closing their eyes for just three minutes, he said.

Since truck drivers spend more hours on the road than the average person, the Folo CRAM can benefit them especially, Medeiros said. The device has been developed so fleet supervisors of trucking companies can monitor the level of fatigue of all their drivers at one main station. Supervisors could call their truck drivers and direct them to take a break or stop for sleep when drivers reach low levels of alertness.

Medeiros said a major problem is that drivers live by the "Superman complex" - they think they can control everything, like their level of alertness.

"But you cannot control a law that comes from physiology," he said.

Many people know they are too tired to drive safely, but they don't stop, Medeiros said.

"We have the signs, but we don't listen to them," he said.

The right decision is to pull over and sleep.

Trucker's opinion
Longtime truck driver Ray Higerman pulls over to take a walk at least once a day to stay refreshed, he said during breakfast at a truck stop in Corning while in route from Oregon City, Ore., to Rohnert Park to deliver truck parts.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics claims that fatigue is responsible for 30 to 40 percent of accidents involving commercial trucks in North America. But Higerman, a Duff's Trucks driver from Aloha, Ore., has been a trucker for more than 30 years and said a Folo CRAM would not benefit him.

Higerman said the device would be more beneficial for regular people who are not accustomed to driving long hours.

"The long hours don't bother me," he said.

Higerman said he is not allowed to drive longer than 11 hours without stopping for at least eight hours because of recently passed laws. He used to drive five hours on, five hours off.

"I get more sleep now than I ever had in some 30-odd years of driving," he said. "I get too much sleep."

The device would not benefit truck drivers because many new trucking companies that can afford the equipment already have satellite systems advanced enough to tell drivers when they need to sleep. Higerman said the Folo CRAM would "cost a lot of money for nothing."

Drowsy drivers in Tehama County
Trucks were involved in more than half of the 24 fatal crashes in Tehama County in 2006. And staff at Effective Control Transport think most of the incidents may have been caused by drowsy driving.

Exactly how many lives this new technology could save is impossible to determine because it is hard to know whether a collision was caused by fatigue based on physical evidence, said Selam Tewolde, vice president of public relations for Effective Control Transport.

Investigators often blame tired drivers when vehicles drift off the road, collisions do not occur in a junction, do not involve other vehicles or when there are no skid marks, indicating that the driver did not use the brakes, Tewolde said. According to the Federal Highway Administration, almost two-thirds of all U.S. highway fatalities are categorized as road departures. Road departures, as opposed to collisions that occur in intersections, can indicate tired drivers drifting out of their lanes.

Of the 24 fatal collisions in Tehama County in 2006, 21 were non-junction crashes, 17 were roadway departures and half were single-vehicle crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's most recent information. The categories indicating that fatigue played a role were much higher than accidents involving speeding or alcohol.

Tehama County Sheriff Clay Parker said deputies are trained to look for drowsy drivers. The signs, driving too fast or too slow or weaving out of the lanes, are similar to drunk drivers.

Effective Control Transport has been going to markets and trade shows and talking with representatives from the transportation industry, insurance industry and others throughout the United States and other countries such as Canada and Australia. Tewolde said California is advanced in its approach to road safety issues compared to other states, and the company hopes to get the word out because drivers don't realize the dangers of driving drowsy.

For information about drowsy driving, visit www.drowsydriving