Dead Man's Switch

One high end car maker has something to wake asleep drivers up, or claims to in a commercial.

-- Les Cargill

The idea has some merit but there are negative sides too. For example, there are many driving conditions in which running off the road is likely to cause more serious accidents than bumping into another car. And many drivers do not constantly grip the steering wheel. It will be a simple matter to implement a delay before the dead man's switch is activated, but there will have to be a provision to disengage it while warming up the engine and then engage it again.

An alarm may be a more practical feature. There are simple electronic projects that trip an alarm when the driver's head is tilted too far in any direction, such as when falling asleep at the wheel. I don't know if there's any commercial product based on the idea.

it's all about liability. If a driver falls asleep and causes harm, he gets sued. If a car does ANYTHING to try to help, the car vendor gets sued. Cars have warning systems. Actual proactive systems are slower to get to market.

Recently I have seen in local and national news many incidents(comparatively) of people passing out and causing accidents. In these cases alarms would do little good.

Possibly a better alternative would be to use an alarm, a slowing down mechanism, and an anti-veer mechanism. This way the car would necessarily drive straight and slow down. Flashers could be engaged to warn motorists.

This would only reduce the number of accidents by a very small fraction since most are caused by DWI or distractions(which usually occur very quickly).

Some type of assisted driving automation that, for example, attempts to keep the vehicle in lane while driving and looks ahead for obstacles would be best. The problem is they are not failsafe and may make things work when they are needed the most.

If people would/could just pay attention this discussion would be more relevant.

Not sure the pressure switch helps when I'm texting or rolling a ciggy.

Yup. It watches your blink rate. ...Jim Thompson

through sun glasses?

Jamie

I've been in some high end cars that are so smooth and soundproof that falling asleep is easier compared to an old rattling pick up truck.

I sometimes drive with my knees when I'm eating a sundae. :P

Short story: because the cost and risk of having the dead-man's switch is greater than the cost and risk of croaking suddenly enough that you can't get off the road before you pass out (or away).

This "dead man's switch" could be dispensed with entirely if you just required that all driving be done by certified government employees, who would live in houses right next to the houses of regular folks. You would have to wait for them to get up and go no matter how urgent your errand, and you would be responsible for any damage they caused while driving your car, but you'd never have to feel responsible. Taxes would go up, but we could just charge that to the 0.1% (not the 1% -- some of us are in that category. Best fork it up a level. Maybe the 0.01%?)

Ah..Makes sense. It's easiest(legally) for a a car warning system to do something like this:

Car says, 'Beep! Beep! Beep Wake up! Wake up!' 'You are liability for the house your about to crash into. I can't control the car cause it's supposed to be all your fault.'

-- Les Cargill

I don't think it is all that many. I can only recall a couple out of hundreds of RTCs that I have seen. Most were caused by a mixture of stupidity, bad driving and failure to pay attention to the road ahead. Statistics may be different in the USA where monotonous straight roads in the flyover states are positively hypnotic.

They do it on trains where a great deal more is at stake if the driver pegs it. And there are a few cars now that have alarms if you drift out of lane without indicating or close your eyes for more than a couple of seconds. I have seen a couple of driver falling asleep at the wheel incidents first hand. One got a roadside tree head on at speed - probably fatally and the other removed nearside hubcaps and bent metal.

A friend after an almost 72 hour continuous stint on a telescope woke up parallel to the road in a desert with cruise control on no harm done. Though I understand the car was never quite right afterwards.

Taxi drivers and chauffeurs. But you still cannot prevent them from getting completely rat arsed and driving at great speed along the peripherique until they hit one of the concrete roof supports.

If it is essential that you attend something on emergency callout most decent employers will send a car or reinburse taxi fare.

Regards, Martin Brown

They do. They're called a "Corvair", circa 1960-1963 :)

It's very seldom I drive sleepy so it's unlikely that'll be the way I'll get into an accident. Generally everybody is like that. Too many safety features and for unlikely causes adds to the car cost.

How about an electroshock system strapped to the head. When it's tilts, zap!

I often let go of the wheel while rolling slowing stuck in traffic.

It is the sunglasses. k.. Just joking.. Or maybe??

That gives me the idea of a government paid taxi service. Anywhere you want to go in the city, hop in a cab for free. An ID swipe might be needed for tracking to curb abuse. Non-residents (ex: tourists) have to pay. No more empty buses going in circles.

Sundae driver!