SmartWitness has launched a fatigue and distraction detection tool as 17% of drivers admit to sleeping at the wheel in a recent poll. 

The results showed that 86% say they drive when they know they are tired because they have to for work or for their home life.

Only 48% of the 1,000 drivers polled always stop and take a break when they are tired and 47% of respondents were not getting the recommended seven-eight hours sleep a night.

SmartWitness chief executive Paul Singh said: "Driver fatigue is one of the biggest killers on our roads and we need to be doing far more to raise awareness of this major threat to road safety.

"It is vital that employers recognise this problem and implement new technology to spot when their staff are too tired to drive, and alerts for the drivers so that they know themselves.”

The newly-launched DDC100 unit can be fitted to the dashboard of a cars, van or HGV. It uses facial recognition software to detect when the driver’s eyes have looked away from the road for more than three seconds.

When this happens it sends out an audible alert and when connected to a fleet management system it will also send an alert to the fleet manager that the driver is suffering from fatigue.  It also recognises general distractions like mobile phone use.