Kennedy, Gerard, Risiik, Christie, Howard, Mark and Pierce, Rob (2001) The effect of sleep deprivation, circadian rhythms and brief naps on driving performance, vigilance, alertness, sleep inertia and mood across the day in young drivers: preliminary report for VicRoads. Project Report. UNSPECIFIED. (Submitted)

Abstract

Fatigue and sleepiness have been reported to cause a disproportionate number of motor vehicle accidents (Philip, Taillard, Quera-Salva, Bioulac & Akerstedt, 1999) both in Australia (Connor, Whitlock, Norton & Jackson, 2001) and overseas (Maycock, 1997; Philip, Taillard, Guilleminault, Salva, Bioulac & Ohayon, 1999). Connor et al. (2001) have reviewed nineteen studies that assess the factors involved in fatigue and sleepiness related motor vehicle accidents. It was concluded that only a limited number of these studies were valid. However, the research suggested that there appear to be four major risk factors with respect to fatigue and sleepiness related motor vehicle accidents. The risk factors include age of young drivers (Doherty, Andrey & MacGregor, 1998; Fell & Black, 1997), boredom and monotony (Nelson, 1997), sleep deprivation (Lenne, Triggs & Redman, 1998) and time of day (Arkerstedt & Kecklund, 2001; Fell, 1995; Lenne, Triggs & Redman, 1997; Pack, Pack, Rodgman, Cucchiara, Dinges & Schwab, 1995). The term time of day will refer to the 24 hour circadian cycle. The present literature review aims to expand the review by Connor et al. (2001), and to further investigate the risk factors involved in fatigue, sleepiness and driving. In particular, the literature review will examine the implications of fatigue and sleepiness for young drivers, as they are the highest at risk for fatigue and sleepiness when driving (Maycock, 1997; McGwin & Brown, 1999). There is a need for the prevention of fatigue and sleepiness related motor vehicle accidents. A thirty-minute nap has been shown to decrease fatigue and sleepiness and improve alertness (Aschoff, 1994). However, the effectiveness of a nap has been shown to depend on the time of day, duration of the nap, the level of prior sleep deprivation and the level of post-nap sleep inertia (Naitoh, 1981). Sleep inertia is the brief period of sleepiness and confusion following a nap (Bruck & Pisani, 1999; Dinges, Orne, Evans & Orne, 1981). There has been some research on the benefits of naps for shift workers (Chan, Phoon, Gan & Ngui, 1989; Harma, Knauth & Ilmarinen, 1989). However, there is a paucity of research on the effects of naps in preventing motor vehicle accidents due to fatigue and sleepiness, and the effects of sleep inertia on driving performance.

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