At a time when many motorists are heading to ski resorts with their families, the Figaro recalls some instructive figures on road safety. Drowsiness has become for several years the leading cause of death and the cause of one in three accidents.
And during major departures, the situation worsens. “Between the suitcases to be packed, the alarm clock which rings earlier to leave before traffic jams, notes the daily life, 31% of road users sleep one hour less compared to their average rest time”. These figures come from a study carried out in 2011 by the Raymond-Poincaré hospital in Garches. The researchers had calculated that in 15 years, the sleep time of drivers had been reduced by 20 minutes.
Measuring driver fatigue therefore represents, in the same way as alcohol or drugs, an objective for combating road crime. This is why the work carried out at the Sleep and Vigilance Center at the Hôtel-Dieu is of interest to those involved in prevention. “Specialists are, in fact, in the process of being able to isolate physiological indicators allowing them to measure the degree of sleep deprivation”, explains the journalist, Angélique Négroni.
In fact, thanks to this research, a simple saliva test will identify the biomarkers that sign fatigue. About fifty volunteers, specifies the newspaper, are currently lending themselves to these tests financed by the Vinci Autoroutes Foundation.
This “little revolution” aims to self-assess before hitting the road. But it could become a law enforcement tool by helping law enforcement verbalize drowsiness as an offence. The government is facing a return of bad behavior on the road. A 12% increase in the number of road deaths in January after a poor record in 2014. So, will all the means be good to extinguish this new outbreak?