Driver sleepiness contributes substantially to road death and trauma. Effective countermeasures to reduce driver sleepiness are critical to reducing the incidence of driver sleepiness. The results of the study suggest that drivers were able to identify increasing sleepiness during the test period, and could make the decision to cease driving. However, the ability among participants to identify their increasing sleepiness varied. Strategies to improve perception, detection and mitigation of sleepiness while driving should be pursued.
The first key finding “that a nap break provided meaningful benefit for reducing driver sleepiness compared with an active break” confirms advice which has been given to drivers for several years to “take a 15 minute powernap”.