Feb 21, 2008

Hours of service issues on the railroads: part VII, alertness monitoring technology

[Our series on Dr. Martin Moore-Ede's testimony before Congress continues]

4. What is the most effective way of reducing fatigue risk? (continued)

Alertness monitoring technology?
The railroads were the first transportation mode to introduce alerter devices into the cab which signal and alert an unresponsive operator. This is undoubtedly an important safety tool, but unfortunately not a sufficient one. It is now well established that a sleepy operator can tap the reset button automatically without being alerted into a vigilant state.

Another generation of alertness monitors which directly detects operator drowsiness is under development, but this technology is not yet sufficiently advanced or reliable to be implemented in the short-term.



Related Posts:
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part I
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part II, sleep deprivation and alertness
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part III, safety threat?
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part IV, increasing risk?
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part V, hours of service rules
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part VI, train control technology
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part VIII, risk-informed fatigue management
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part IX, parallel models
* Hours of service issues on the railroads: part X, how to proceed

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