Driver fatigue: prevalence and state awareness of drivers of passenger cars and trucks; A questionnaire study among driving licence holders in the Netherlands.

A questionnaire study of driver fatigue among driving licence holders in the Netherlands was carried out to accomplish a more detailed elaboration of the Sustainable Safety principle 'state awareness'. The purpose of the study was twofold. The main purpose was to establish the quality of state awareness, risk awareness and calibration of Dutch licence holders (car and truck drivers) when they suffer from driver fatigue. Do they realize they are getting tired or already are, and which effect do they think fatigue has on their task capability? How dangerous do they consider fatigued driving to be, and do they adapt their behaviour when they are tired? The second purpose of the study was to find out how often Dutch licence holders are faced with fatigue while driving, and how often this results in crashes (prevalence). This report describes the results of the questionnaire study, and compares them with the results of similar international studies. The results of the questionnaire study and the comparative literature study are then used to see how the quality of self-regulation of fatigued drivers can be improved; this being one of the methods to reduce the number of crashes that are caused by driver fatigue. This report may be accessed by Internet users at: http://www.swov.nl/rapport/R-2011-04.pdf