Monotony, Fatigue and Microsleeps - Train driver' daily routine: a Simulator study.

Kurzfassung

The train drivers’ profession has undergone significant changes in the last years. Information-processing and controlling functions have increased substantially while physical demand has decreased. However, because of the shift work, physical and mental strain is still high. Fatigue and monotony seem to be issues related to normal operation conditions. Also, train drivers’ ability to react to unpredictable events deteriorates when exposed to highly predictable and uneventful driving tasks. A driving simulator study was conducted in order to evaluate the impact of monotony to the train drivers’ driving performance. Eleven male train drivers took part at the experimental study in the RailSET train simulation environment - a realistic replica of a real train drivers’ cabin and its surrounding. While driving under a normal and monotonous condition, driving tasks were given to the participants in order to measure reaction times and driving performance. Participants were divided into two groups: morning and afternoon. The results of the study show a significant difference in reaction times between the normal and the monotonous condition, with higher reaction times in the monotonous condition. The self-rated sleepiness on basis of the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale shows a considerable increase in the course of the test drive. Five from eleven participants were experiencing microsleep episodes. Six out of eleven test persons showed signals passed at danger (SPADs), i.e. they slipped past a signal showing a red aspect (stop). Almost all train drivers participating in the simulator study pointed out the importance of the monotony and fatigue study, based on their own experience of occurrence and probability of microsleep in the daily routine of the train drivers’ work.