01657967

Component

Driving while “sleepy” is a relatively common occurrence and is associated with elevated crash risk. This effect can be particularly problematic for patients of sleep disorders, but research on sleep habits and the prevalence of sleepy driving in this population is inconclusive. This study examined the differences in sleep and driving habits between drivers with and without sleep disorders using data from the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study to compute associated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals. The results indicated that drivers with sleep disorders collectively suffered from poor sleep habits – irregular sleep schedule, insufficient sleep duration, and feeling fatigued upon awakening. Further, there were no significant differences in driving habits – frequency of sleepy driving, falling asleep while driving, and nighttime driving – between drivers with and without specific sleep disorders. However, individual sleep disorders were associated with different sleep and driving habits. On one hand, drivers with insomnia, shift work sleep disorder, or migraine experienced poor sleep, drove sleepy, and drove at night more often. On the other hand, drivers with sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome did not show any significant differences in sleep and/or driving habits compared to those without the sleep disorders except for driving less at night. These findings suggest that drivers’ sleep and driving habits vary with specific types of sleep disorder. Further, variation in the amount of nighttime driving might be a form of adaptive or coping mechanism for drivers with some sleep disorders to moderate their perceived roadway risk.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee Standing Committee AND10 on Vehicle User Characteristics.

18-00985

English

13p

2018

Transportation Research Board 97th Annual Meeting

Print

References; Tables

Automatic data collection systems; Driver performance; Drowsiness; Fatigue (Physiological condition); Highway safety; Human factors in crashes; Sleep; Sleep disorders

Driving habits

Highways; Safety and Human Factors

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2018 Paper #18-00985

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Jan 8 2018 10:15AM