Unfortunately many of us fill our days so full of activities and scheduled events that we have a hard time sleeping well at night and leave ourselves little time to get ready for the day in the morning. Distractions from behind the wheel can include text messages, talking on cell phones, eating, drinking or other people in the car, but most of us don’t think of drowsiness as a distraction. The reality is if we drive drowsy there’s a much greater likelihood of ending up in an accident than if we drive fully alert and ready for the day.
In America more than sixty percent of drivers have admitted to driving while tired or drowsy. This happens because we push ourselves to survive each day and make our way back home or get up too early for our bodies to be ready. Think of all the drivers on the road who spend their time working the night shift or come off one shift only to need to return to work only a few hours later. These shortened periods between work days certainly causes some of the drowsy driving an at least four percent of those who’ve been in an accident admit to driving while they were tired. This four percent equates to nearly eleven million drivers.
Some companies have begun to install features in their vehicles that measure driver alertness and help to give you a warning signal when you’re driving in a manner that appears to be drowsy or tired. This feature typically only comes with warning sounds and possibly with the ability to slow down and shut down the vehicle if so equipped, but for the most part we don’t have the answer to a drowsy driver on the market right now.
In fact, some technologies actually promote a more tired state of driving. Most of these technologies are items we aren’t going to get rid of, but the automatic transmission, smooth riding suspensions, cruise control and even the semi-autonomous features that are now installed on our vehicles are all built to make it easier for you to stop paying attention to the road ahead which leads to drowsy driving. Using these features when you’re already drowsy is certainly a recipe for disaster, but there seems to be some hope on the market today which you can buy and put in your vehicle to help keep you from becoming drowsy or at least have a realistic wake up when you do appear to be driving drowsy.
This new item is called the Driver Stats Monitor (DSM) and its comes to us from Denso. This item, as roughly explained in this video, reads your face using a facial recognition monitor, camera and software to see if you’re becoming sleepy while driving. If the DSM detects you nodding off it will blast cold air through the air conditioning system into your face to help wake you up quickly and help you remain alert during the remainder of your drive.
The DSM does more than just help you be more alert. This system will shout warnings at you when you perform any activity that is understandable frowned upon while driving such as using your hands to hold a phone on a phone call or looking down to read a text message. With the DSM installed in your vehicle you’ll easily be able to stay alert and not have to worry about falling completely asleep from behind the wheel, from which you might not ever wake up again. The DSM was originally built for the difficult road system in Japan, but it can be purchased and installed in your vehicle as well.
Driving with the DSM installed certainly improves your chances of surviving your road trips when you have something that will blast you with cold air if you begin to get drowsy. In reality you should pull to the side of the road or exit at the next rest stop if the DSM blasts you even once. This is sure sign you need to have a break and rest for a bit before continuing on your route. It’s better to arrive safe than not to arrive at all, keep that in mind before you drive drowsy.
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