Doze Alert

Drowsiness is a safety hazard that is plaguing our country. In fact in 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that drowsy driving was responsible for 72,000 crashes, 44,000 injuries, and 800 deaths. These numbers are underestimated and up to 6,000 fatal crashes may be caused by drowsy drivers. This is obviously a problem because sleep deprivation and drowsiness are costing lives, and currently there are no clear-cut methods for police officers to identify drowsy drivers. They currently use a criterium to determine if a driver is drowsy. This criterium does not include a factual number like one that would be provided in a breathalyzer test. Also, drowsiness is considered a genuine safety hazard in the workplace. For example, in the aviation industry, pilots are mandated to have a minimum of eight hours of rest in any 24-hour period of time. However, simply giving them the opportunity to rest cannot guarantee that they are actually well rested to perform their high-risk job. Because it cannot be guaranteed, detecting drowsiness is an important step in preserving the safety of the workers and the customers.

We believe that by alerting the user, he or she will be more inclined to refrain from partaking in risky behavior due to sleepiness/drowsiness.