Many people are on the road for long periods of time. This is especially true for those who drive for a living, such as truckers, or for people who may be driving to a vacation destination. Driving for long periods of time, however, could pose various problems regarding safety and health.
Statistics have shown that driving when sleepy is just as bad as driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. A survey conducted by the Gallup Organization of over 4,000 US drivers revealed that nearly 40 percent of drivers admitted they had dozed off or fallen asleep at least one time while on the road. Males faced this problem about twice as likely as females did.
Drivers over the years have resorted to many supposed remedies for this problem, such as drinking caffeine-laced products like coffee or energy drinks, opening up a window to get some air, or turning up the radio. However, in most cases, these strategies do not work for drivers traveling for long periods of time.
The Impecca Alert Band is a new tool available to help battle the issue of sleep impaired driving. This device monitors drivers’ brain activity levels and warns them if it senses that they are getting tired. By doing so, users can pull to the side and take a bit of a break, which is the only real cure for sleepy driving.
The device is a wearable headset that performs continuous electroencephalography on the wearer. It is intended to be very lightweight and is said to be comfortable for drivers to wear for long periods of time. The app that accompanies it works with Android or iOS using Bluetooth 4.0.
Impecca says that their product, which has a battery life of 20 hours, will alert a sleepy driver about three to five minutes before they are about to fall asleep at the wheel. Its sensors layup against the driver’s forehead in order to retrieve these readings. The headband is also connected to a smartphone app that displays a fatigue ratio on a zero to 100 scale, with zero indicating that the driver is completely awake and a score over 80, indicating that the driver is in danger of falling asleep. It can also be rigged to give notifications to the drivers’ friends or family, as well as post updates on social networks if the ratio reaches a certain level on the band’s monitor.
The Impecca Alert Band is now in production and could be expected to be on the market for tired drivers to buy starting in May 2015. The expected retail price of the Impecca Alert Band is $249.99.
