Shaker waker

Dan Ruffle, an Industrial Design and Technology student at

, has designed a device that is set to reduce the number of crashes on the roads due to driver fatigue.

AAlert, a rubber device that is worn as a bracelet, combines motion with reaction time to determine whether or not a driver is suffering from driver fatigue. While driving, if a driver doesn’t move his or her wrist for more than 15 seconds, a vibration is sent to the bracelet and AAlert requires the driver to move their wrist to stop the vibration.

By measuring the reaction times to the vibration, AAlert is able to determine whether or not the driver is suffering from driver fatigue. The slower the reaction to the vibration, the more likely it is that the driver is fatigued and should take a break from the wheel.

Driver fatigue is a serious problem in the UK and results in thousands of road accidents each year. Although it is not possible to calculate the number of sleep related accidents because of the difficulty in detecting whether fatigue is a factor, research shows that up to 20 per cent of accidents on monotonous roads, such as motorways, are fatigue related.