Fatigued driving

Fatigued driving can occur when the driver has had inadequate sleep, has driven for a sustained period or has recently changed their sleep pattern.

It can particularly affect shift workers, professional drivers, parents of young children, tourists and residents of rural and remote areas.

Monotonous driving conditions can contribute to the danger of falling asleep or becoming hypovigilant while driving.

For general information, refer to CARRS-Q's fact sheets on Fatigue [PDF, 2.39MB] and Monotony and hypovigilance [PDF, 1.87MB].

Developing the case for a National Fatigue Risk Management Standard (2009 - 2010)

The effect of rest breaks on driver fatigue (2009 - in progress)

Community understanding and management of the impact of prescribed drugs on driving and machine operation (2008 - in progress)

Developing contemporary driving risk assessment tools to improve fleet safety (2008 - in progress)

Advanced Driving Simulator for Injury Prevention Research (2008 - in progress)

Differential effects of monotony versus fatigue on driving performance and the effectiveness of various detection methods: Implications for road safety in the ACT (2008 - 2009)

Recent publications by CARRS-Q researchers include:

Larue, Gregoire and Rakotonirainy, Andry and Pettitt, Anthony N. (2010) Driving performance on monotonous roads.  In: Proceedings of 20th Canadian Multidisciplinary Road Safety Conference, 6-9 June 2010, Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Armstrong, Kerry A. and Obst, Patricia L. and Livingstone, Kerrie and Haworth, Narelle L. (2009) An investigation of differences in crash characteristics between males and females involved in a fatigue-related crash or close call event.  In: Transportation Research Board Fourth International Conference on Women's Issues in Transportation, 27th - 30th October, 2009., Irvine California.

Larue, Gregoire S. and Rakotonirainy, Andry and Pettitt, Anthony N. (2009) A model to predict hypovigilance during a monotonous task.  In: Proceedings of the 2009 Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference : Smarter, Safer Directions, 10-12 November 2009, Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sydney, New South Wales.

Livingstone, Kerrie and Armstrong, Kerry and Obst, Patricia L. and Smith, Simon S. (2009) Postpartum fatigue and driving : relating experiences, thoughts and opinions 12 weeks post-birth.  In: The 4th International Conference on Women's Issues in Transportation, 27-30 October 2009, Irvine and Newport Beach, California.

Strahan, Clinton and Watson, Barry C. and Lennon, Alexia J. (2008) Can organisational safety climate and occupational stress predict work-related driver fatigue?  Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 11(6). pp. 418-426.

Davey, Jeremy D. and Richards, Naomi L. and Freeman, James E. (2007) Fatigue and beyond: patterns of and motivations for illicit drug use among long-haul truck drivers.  Traffic Injury Prevention, 8(3). pp. 253-259.

Michael, Rebecca L. and Meuter, Renata (2007) The negative effects of task monotony and sensation seeking tendencies on sustained attention.  In: European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCoP) XV Conference, 29th August - 1st September 2007, Marseille, France.

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