EU regulation: Too tired to drive - Drowsiness warning will soon be mandatory in cars
Created: 06/14/2022, 17:44
By: Stella Henrich
From July 6th, vehicles will have to be equipped with more technical safety features.
This is stipulated by an EU regulation.
Among other things, there will be a tiredness detection.
Munich – As early as 2019, the EU Parliament passed a regulation on mandatory assistance systems for cars.
Now the systems are mandatory.
From July 6th, new vehicles - for the sake of safety - have to have a lot more.
Among other things, the so-called "fatigue detection".
The function is intended to prevent the well-known "microsleep at the wheel".
It analyzes the driver's driving behavior and uses acoustic and visual signals to indicate that he should take a break.
Driving behavior is evaluated by continuously recording the driver's eye and lid movements as well as the steering movement at the wheel.
Unusually hectic steering movements or an increasing number of braking interventions serve as parameters.
Some systems use an inward-facing camera to monitor the driver's eyes, for example to detect wandering gazes.
Some vehicles even suggest a fitness program with special music to the driver, provide special lighting in the car and fresh air supply.
However, there should not be a forced, technically ordered break from driving.
EU regulation: 50 percent of all accidents at night are due to fatigue
The drowsiness detection is intended to help drivers not to nod off at the wheel on long car journeys, when driving late at night or overtired professional drivers.
Because just a brief moment, a single second can lead to an accident.
According to studies, almost 50 percent of all accidents at night are due to tiredness at the wheel, writes the ADAC.
Fatigue at the wheel - an often underestimated cause of accidents on the road.
(Iconic image) © B. Leitner/imago
Due to tiredness, a crash usually only counts if the driver himself reports it to the police questioning.
According to the Federal Statistical Office, a total of 1,448 accidents involving personal injury were registered in 2020 in which drivers were fatigued.
According to expert estimates, the number of unreported cases is significantly higher.
According to the ADAC accident research, drivers who are drowsy often arrive at high speeds
off the road or get into the oncoming lane.
That is why a disproportionately large number of people are seriously or fatally injured, according to the ADAC.
EU regulation: Study reveals alarming figures on fatigue at the wheel
The numbers that the German Road Safety Council (DVR) has determined according to the ADAC are all the more frightening.
In a 2016 DVR survey, 26 percent of 1,000 drivers surveyed said they had fallen asleep at the wheel at least once.
The numbers are even more drastic for people who drive a lot on the freeway: A further survey by the DVR and the German Society for Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine (DGSM) from 2017 showed that 46 percent of 353 truck drivers surveyed at least have already dozed off while driving, according to the ADAC.
45 percent of those surveyed believe that their driving experience can compensate for their driving impairments caused by tiredness.
And 43 percent of drivers are convinced that they can predict when they will fall asleep with certainty.
And according to the DRV, 17 percent of the drivers surveyed continue to drive despite being tired.
What a lot of people don't seem to know is that anyone who causes an accident because they are tired faces a prison sentence of up to two years.
If the person who caused the accident states that he was very tired or fell asleep, or if this can be proven to him in some other way, he may have violated
Section 315c of the Criminal Code
.
Here it says: "Anyone who drives a vehicle on the road although he is not able to drive the vehicle safely due to mental or physical defects" can be fined or imprisoned for up to two years if he is at risk he caused the danger negligently.
A driving ban or withdrawal of the driving license is usually imposed or pronounced in these cases.
Source: ADAC
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EU regulation: Technical measures against driver fatigue
So that the drivers do not fall asleep at the wheel, they are monitored by software in the background.
Sophisticated electronics analyze the driving behavior of the driver.
"If the expected target values for the steering movement and vehicle position deviate too much from the actual values, the driver is initially warned gently and later more and more clearly about his driving weaknesses," Focus.de
explains
the attention assistant system.
Depending on the "intelligence" of the drowsiness warning system, the duration of the journey, the blinking behavior and the time of day are also included in the calculation.
The software analyzes driving behavior from a driving speed of 65 kilometers per hour, writes
Focus.de
further.
The electronics are often installed as a steering angle sensor as part of the ESP anti-skid system.
The driving time, the gaze behavior or the actuation of the pedals are also included in the calculation.
The EU regulation stipulates that all newly developed cars must have this new assistance system in their basic configuration.
New cars are now often equipped with a drowsiness detection system.
However, a microsleep alarm can also be installed later, regardless of the vehicle class.
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