Prevalence of Physical and Mental Fatigue Symptoms on Spanish Drivers and Its Incidence on Driving Safety

Abstract

Motor-vehicle crashes are a major public health concern since road accidents explain a high number of deaths every year. In this sense, drivers’ health and performance are essential issues in order to avoid traffic crashes, taking into account that these characteristics are essential to achieve this task correctly and safety. Previous studies have found that the fatigue, because of the cognitive and motor deterioration it causes, contributes to increase significantly the probability of being involved in a crash. The general objective of this study was to describe the prevalence of fatigue symptomatology among Spanish drivers, and its relationship with driving safety. It were also analyzed, throughout this investigation, the risk perception of drivers about fatigue in driving, the prevalence of fatigue symptomatology on drivers, the relation of the drivers with or without fatigue symptoms with the reported and subjective incidence of health in driving, and finally, to provide a further understanding of the socio-demographic and psycho-social characteristics of drivers related to fatigue in Spain. This cross-sectional study used a total sample of n=1200 (666 [56%] men and 534 [44%] women) Spanish drivers, who answered a questionnaire designed to collect data about their psychosocial characteristics, driving habits and perceptions about their driving performance and decision-making related with fatigue. A high percentage of Spanish drivers (18%), were not aware of the effects of fatigue and its impact on driving. In general terms, 15.8% of the participants showed fatigue symptoms. Furthermore, 61.1% of them thought that sometimes they were not in good conditions to drive. However, the remaining 38.9% admitted they felt in good conditions to drive even presenting fatigue symptoms. This study shows that an important percentage of drivers did not think about the fact that fatigue has a negative influence on driving, compared to what they thought about psychoactive drugs, drowsiness, and drug use. Guidelines to increase traffic safety trough the intervention of drivers’ fatigue are proposed.