Research Reveals Higher Risk of Crashes Among Nightshift Workers

February 5, 2016, on Articles | Share

People who work the graveyard shift do so for various reasons. Some simply prefer to work at night instead of during the day, while some who have children choose the nightshift to make themselves available to spend more daytime hours running errands and working on homework with their kids. Whatever the reason, many nightshift workers leave work and head home in their automobiles – in a drowsy state.

A new study done by the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (LMRIS) examined nightshift workers’ daytime driving performance after working their normal shift and compared it with their driving after having had a full night of sleep. More specifically, the study examined the driving of 16 nightshift workers who were asked to participate in two 2-hour driving sessions on Liberty Mutual’s closed track.

Before taking part in one of the sessions, the participants slept approximately 7.6 hours the night before, without having worked the nightshift. For the second session, the workers did not get any sleep beforehand and simple drove right after their shifts.

The project’s co-investigator with LMRIS noted that “the number of near-crash events that occurred during the study starkly emphasized the statistics of nearly half a million crashes and 6,500 fatalities annually that directly result from driver fatigue.” When comparing the two sessions, the researchers found, among other things, that the participants had a significantly higher rate of lane diversions. Participants also demonstrated an increase in driver drowsiness, as well as deteriorating driving performance and an increased risk of near-collisions.

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