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SALT LAKE CITY -- Devices with names like the Anti Sleep Pilot or the Alert Master are a couple of the many gadgets designed to notify a driver if he is getting sleepy. Roadmaster Driving Schools Director in Utah Ron Nichols says many people overestimate their ability to drive when they're drowsy.
"People, when they begin to get tired, I don't think they realize how tired they really are. That's why, in our industry, you are regulated to have to make so many stops," he explained.
But Nichols is concerned about whether people will truly listen to these devices. He says tired drivers frequently ignore the warning from the rumble strips when they pass over them.
"Most people hit that and say, ‘Oh, I guess I wasn't paying attention,' and they just keep on driving. I really wonder if there is anything that really can do it," he said.
Of course, the best advice for a tired driver is to pull off the road and get some rest. But Nichols says that's advice very few tired drivers would take.
"I think a small percentage of them would really pull over off the road and try and get 40 winks," he said.
Nichols is not saying these devices are a bad thing or that they won't help drivers maintain focus while behind the wheel. He's just saying drivers shouldn't use them to replace their own judgment. For example, there are devices that can gauge your speed and monitor how close you are to another car. If you use these devices to act as another alert system, that's fine. But if you use it so you don't have to be mindful of the distance between you and the car in front of you, then it's a problem.
"You go down every day and you see something that had fallen off a truck, a ladder, a pipe or something like that. When you're tired, you're not as acute as when you are awake and [most] any device is not going to see that pipe in the middle of the road," Nichols said.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
