Similar traffic-safety risks from drowsiness and drinking

Everyone knows that alcohol and driving don’t mix. Alcohol impairs the body’s coordination ability, motor skills, response times, vision, attentiveness and even cognitive ability and attitude. Now a study conducted by Volvo Trucks also reveals immense similarities – as well as crucial differences – between the effects of alcohol and drowsiness on the driver.

Volvo Trucks has long experience of investigating the causes of accidents and in recent years it has become increasingly interested in studying drowsiness from this perspective. Medical research indicates that the number of traffic fatalities – about 40,000 per year in Europe alone – would be able to be drastically reduced if fewer road-users were subjected to drowsiness.

In order to be able to develop systems that help a driver drive safely, Volvo Trucks has taken a holistic perspective encompassing everything that contributes to increased traffic safety. This has previously resulted in systems such as ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) that helps prevent the vehicle from rolling over.

Volvo has now in a series of real-life tests verified the facts regarding what actually happens when a driver gets behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol. The study, which was carried out in a closed-off area at Volvo’s proving ground in Hällered in Sweden, was authorised within the framework of the permit that Volvo Trucks had previously received from the Swedish government.

The series of tests involving drivers under the influence of alcohol is part of the Volvo Truck Corporation’s work on developing and improving systems that can be used to identify tired or drowsy drivers. The study uses a variety of measures, including two cameras fitted above the instrument panel that monitor the driver’s eye movements.

“We wanted our suspicions confirmed in a scientific study using real drivers in an authentic driving environment and using real vehicles – all so as to know with precision how a driver reacts both when drowsy and when under the influence of alcohol,” says Peter Kronberg, researcher at Volvo Technology.

“The test helps increase knowledge about how factors such as tiredness, the effects of alcohol and other negative input can affect driving ability. This is knowledge that we need for our ongoing development of methods to sound the alert in time – before accidents occur,” says Lars-Göran Löwenadler, safety manager at Volvo Trucks.

“We’ve been able to confirm the similarities between drowsiness and alcohol when it comes to impaired road safety. The similarities were remarkable – the symptoms were very similar in our research,” reveals Peter Kronberg.