Driver Fatigue

Examine the efficacy of caffeine as a countermeasure against cognitive fatigue – a type of fatigue that’s critical to real-time operator tasks

The researchers found a relationship between growing drowsiness and driving errors in the placebo group. In the caffeine group there was a much lower incidence of driving errors despite the growing drowsiness over the period of sleep deprivation.

Dr Zelinsky said this was a collaborative international study with input from researchers in The Technical Cooperation Program (TTCP) involving UK, USA, Canada, NZ and Australia.

“While the findings are relevant to Defence, they have significant implications for civilian application such as emergency services and long-haul transport,” Dr Zelinsky said.