3 Ways Eye Tracking Can Save Lives Behind the Wheel
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Despite the fact that most people drive on a daily basis without any accidents, you are at risk anytime you are on the road. Driving can be seriously dangerous no matter how careful you are; it only takes a split second for disaster to strike. Accidents are typically the result of a momentary lapse in attention or a driver who is in an impaired cognitive state. Eye tracking technology, like Eye-Com Corporation’s EC7T™ eye tracking system, has the potential to reduce accidents and save lives by detecting inattention, drowsiness and fatigue, and possibly even intoxication in drivers.
Safe driving requires 100% of the driver’s attention, but drivers are surrounded by distractions. Cell phones, radios, and passengers require the driver to multitask. Whether it is within the car or something that catches the driver’s eye outside, distractions that take the driver’s focus from the road put the driver’s life and others in danger. Most of the time, drivers are unaware of their inattention and the risks they take by multitasking behind the wheel. By monitoring drivers’ eye movement while they’re operating a vehicle, an eye tracking system can detect when the driver’s eye wanders from the road ahead. If the driver’s eyes leave the road to look at something within the cab, like a phone or the person next to them, an alarm can be triggered to remind them where their attention belongs.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, 54% of adults have driven while drowsy at least once this year. Studies have shown that drowsy drivers are as incapacitated as a driver with a blood alcohol level of 0.10%, well above the legal limit of .08%. Lack of sleep causes slow reflexes and delayed reaction times, making it difficult, if not impossible, to respond quickly to changes in driving conditions. Eye tracking technology can identify the onset of sleep and trigger an alarm to alert and awaken the driver. It can reduce accidents and save lives by preventing impaired driver performance, ensuring that vehicle operators are vigilant and wakeful.
The third possible way eye tracking could make driving safer is by detecting oculometric signs of intoxication. This could be used as a tool by law enforcement for sobriety testing or possibly incorporated into vehicle hardware to prevent the car from starting if a driver is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. This is an opportunity that still requires extensive research to identify what oculometric signs are presented in intoxicated individuals that could be detected with an eye tracking device. But, in theory, this eye tracking application has the potential to prevent thousands of accidents caused by drivers operating a vehicle under the influence of any awareness-altering substance.
There are a number of ways eye tracking can make roads and highways safer, and beyond ground transportation, these same applications can work to save lives in the sky and sea as well. As they say, wherever there’s a wheel, there’s a way, and eye tracking will be at the forefront of vehicle operator safety.