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The payback period for a drowsy driver warning system was estimated at 0.8 to 10 years for heavy vehicles.

Cost benefit analysis of drowsy driver warning system developed in Sweden.

Date Posted
07/26/2011
Identifier
2011-B00716
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DROWSI Project Cost Benefit Analysis

Summary Information

This cost benefit analysis was conducted as part of the DROWSI (Drowsiness Intervention) project. DROWSI was a national research project conducted by Sweden's Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems program. The DROWSI project was a collaborative initiative between AB Volvo, Volvo Cars, Autoliv, the Stress Research Institute at Stockholm University, VTI, Chalmers University of Technology and the Swedish Road Administration.

Driver sleepiness is considered to be a major cause and contributor to traffic crashes. Research suggests that 10 to 20 percent of all crashes are caused by driver sleepiness. A warning system addressed to sleepy drivers could be a countermeasure to reduce the number of sleep related crashes. A cost benefit analysis was performed to relate the possible traffic safety benefits from the installation of a sleepiness warning system to the costs.

Findings
Payback periods for a drowsy driver warning system were estimated based upon initial expected crash cost, reductions due to the warning system, and the installation costs as follows:
  • Passenger cars, 5 to 75 years before installation costs recovered.
  • Trucks, 3 to 36 years before installation costs recovered.
  • Heaviest trucks (load capacity 16,000 to 17,000 kg), 0.8 to 10 years before installation costs recovered.
There are major uncertainties when it comes to the potential of such a system, considering the size of the sleepiness problem and to what degree drivers will change their behavior and thereby avoid crashes when a system is installed. The numbers given in this report should be seen as approximations and depend heavily on the assumptions made.
Goal Areas
Deployment Locations