Recommendations for current and future countermeasures against sleep disorders and sleep loss to improve road safety in Australia

In 2011, the Australian National Road Safety Strategy developed an action plan to bring about 30% reduction in road deaths by 2020. By 2018, the country had achieved a 9.1% reduction, meaning that the target is unlikely to be met by the deadline. It is well-known that sleep disorders and sleep loss are quite prevalent and present an increased risk of drowsiness and traffic crashes. However, the national strategy did not focus on these issues. The current paper offers recommendations from sleep experts on driver education and legislative actions to further boost road safety in Australia. These actions include education on drowsy driving, graduated driver licensing laws, improved management of sleep disorders, and advancements in drowsiness detection technology. If collectively implemented, these countermeasures will move Australia closer to its goal of 30% reduction in traffic-related deaths.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1111/imj.14423
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/14440903
• Authors:
  • Wolkow, Alexander P
  • 0000-0001-7845-3104
  • Rajaratnam, Shantha M W
  • Anderson, Clare
  • Howard, Mark E
  • Mansfield, Darren
• Publication Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 1181-1184
• Serial:
  • Internal Medicine Journal
  • Volume: 49
  • Issue Number: 9
  • Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Asia
  • ISSN: 1444-0903
  • EISSN: 1445-5994
  • Serial URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1445-5994

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Detection and identification technologies; Driver education; Drowsiness; Graduated licensing; Highway safety; Legislation; Recommendations; Sleep deprivation; Sleep disorders; Traffic crashes
• Geographic Terms: Australia
• Subject Areas: Highways; Law; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01741467
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 29 2020 9:46AM