DRIVER FATIGUE TRIGGERS HOLIDAY ACCIDENTS.

• Position: Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day are coming, bringing added leisure time. There is a dark side, though, to these icons of the American vacation season--inevitable news reports updating highway accident death tolls. Although heavy travel volumes certainly play a role in the high accident rates, especially over busy three-day weekends, most experts agree that another factor is likely a cause--increased driver fatigue attributed to lengthy driving hours, lack of sleep, and the demands of holiday activities.

A long, refreshing rest may be the only real solution to the dangers of driving while groggy, but, human nature being what it is, many drivers will push the boundaries of endurance and risk behind the wheel. This is a problem expected to grow worse as America's bustling, 24-hour, work-hard, play-hard culture adds to the national sleep deficit. While science has yet to find a fail-safe solution for "asleep at the wheel" driving, research is providing important clues on the biomechanics of driver fatigue and paving the way for development of onboard alarm systems capable of rousing a driver who is dozing toward catastrophe.

What is known for certain is that driver fatigue already poses one of the leading threats to safety on the nation's roads. According to estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, at least 100,000 vehicle crashes, 71,000 injuries, and 1,500 fatalities each year can be directly attributed to it. In addition to human suffering, these crashes are estimated to rack up about $12,500,000,000 in costs related to diminished productivity and property loss. Others consider these estimates to be conservative, asserting that driver fatigue plays a significant role in the nearly 1,000,000 annual crashes that are generally attributed to driver inattention.

"It's fairly obvious that people shouldn't be driving when their eyes are closed, but our research suggests that fatigued drivers become increasingly susceptible to accidents long before they actually fall asleep at...