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Driver Fatigue and Alertness Study (DFAS)

The DFAS, performed by the Essex Corporation, was the most comprehensive over-the-road study of commercial driver alertness ever conducted. It was a collaborative effort involving FHWA OMC, Transport Canada, the Trucking Research Institute (TRI) of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) Foundation, three motor carriers, and other research and industry organizations.

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The study involved real revenue runs, 4 different driving schedules, 80 drivers, and more than 200,000 miles of highway driving. Numerous measures were taken of the drivers' alertness and performance during driving and of their physiology during off-duty sleep periods. The DFAS results are major scientific inputs to the current re-examination of FHWA's 60-year-old driver HOS regulations.

Major findings included:

• Driver alertness and performance were more consistently related to time-of-day than to time-on-task. Drowsiness episodes were 8 times more likely between midnight and 6am than during other times.
  
• During their daily main sleep period, drivers slept for only about 5 hours, which was 2 hours less sleep than their "ideal" requirement of slightly over 7 hours.
  
• Drivers' stated self-assessments of their levels of alertness do not correlate well with objective measures of performance. Drivers were not very good at assessing their own levels of alertness.
  
• There were significant individual differences among drivers in levels of alertness and performance.
  
• The DFAS Executive Summary is available through the FMCSA home page: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safetyprogs/research/researchpubs.htm . The Technical Summary (PB 97-129688) and the project final report (PB 98-102346) are available from the National Technical Information Service (NTIS), 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA, 22161, 703-487-4828. (FMCSA Project Manager: Deborah Freund, 202-366-5541).

Fitness-for-Duty Testing

This fatigue management technology involves the administration of psychomotor tests to drivers at the beginning of the job shift and/or during short breaks periodically during the shift. Through the TRI, Evaluation Systems, Inc. developed and evaluated a fitness-for-duty testing device for CMV drivers. Thirty drivers were tested on cognitive/psychomotor tasks on two different types of testing platforms: in-terminal desk top computers and truck cab mounted miniaturized computers.

Data on the drivers' test results, acceptance of the tasks, the effects of terminal and cab environments on the computer hardware, and system reliability and maintainability all supported the feasibility of using short (5-10 minute) tests to identify fatigue drivers. This study documented the concept and feasibility of employing in-terminal and in-vehicle testing devices for determining the fitness of CMV drivers to safely operate their vehicles. Results were reported in a November 1994 FHWA publication, Feasibility of Carrier-Based Fitness-for-Duty Testing of Commercial Drivers, FHWA-MC-95-011.

Above data as reported from: United States Department of Transportation - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

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