Optalert

Optalert Pty Ltd is an Australian business based in Melbourne, Victoria and founded by sleep expert Dr Murray Johns. The company makes and sells a safety device for transport workers that detects and prevents drowsy driving.

Drowsy Driving

Drowsy driving is a factor in one in every five road accidents in Australia and one in three heavy vehicle accidents. The annual financial toll is estimated to be at least $3 billion in health and insurance costs annually. A 2001 survey by the Australian National Transport Commission found 71 per cent of heavy vehicle drivers were impaired by fatigue during their shift. It found 52 per cent of major crash insurance claims were fatigue related. The survey also revealed 50 per cent of all long distance truck drivers had nodded off while driving more than once.

Fatigue Monitoring System

The Optalert system measures a driver’s levels of alertness continuously and objectively in real time. It is the first validated system that provides early warning signs of drowsiness. A number of leading vehicle manufactures are working on developing similar systems including Volvo and Mercedes-Benz. The Optalert system includes a pair of glasses connected to a small computer processor in the vehicle. The glasses emit and detect low levels of infrared light to sense movements in the eyes and eyelids. These movements are fed into a computer that measures a driver's drowsiness and sounds an alarm as soon as the movements show the driver is becoming drowsy.

Scientific validation

The Optalert system has undergone scientific validation by Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) to prove its accuracy and credibility. Universities in Sweden and Professor Charles Czeisler from Harvard University Medical School are also running studies to validate the technology.

Distribution

Optalert currently supplies transport and mining companies in Asia, Africa, South America and Australia including BHP Billiton, Toll Holdings, BIS Industries, Oz Minerals, WestNet Energy and Sutherland’s Transport.

Optalert Reports

The company recently launched a new service called Optalert Reports. It takes information from an onboard computer connected to a driver’s glasses to create an activity summary and travel log over a period of days or months. It can be used to identify potential risks and plan safe work schedules.

Awards

Optalert was awarded an Australian Design Mark after finishing in the top 10 in the 2007 Australian Design Award It won the 2008 Victorian AIIA award for Industrial Applications as well becoming a finalist in the 4th Annual Australian Mining Prospect Awards.

Optalert also received a Bronze in the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA's) International Design Excellence Awards '07. and was nominated in the INDEX: AWARD, 2007.

External References

• http://www.optalert.com