Long-term effects of daylight saving time on driving fatigue

Orsini, Federico; Domenie, Esther D.; Zarantonello, Lisa; Costa, Rodolfo; Montagnese, Sara; Rossi, Riccardo · 2024 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34956

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Summary

This study investigates the long-term impact of Daylight Saving Time (DST) on driving fatigue, addressing conflicting results in previous research that relied on crash databases. Prior studies often failed to disentangle the opposing effects of increased ambient lighting (positive for safety) and circadian desynchrony or sleep curtailment (negative for safety). To isolate sleep- and circadian-related effects, the researchers employed a driving simulator experiment to measure objective and subjective fatigue indicators across multiple time points relative to DST transitions. The experimental design involved 37 participants (mean age 23 years) completing 50-minute trials in a monotonous highway environment. Trials were scheduled in the week prior to the Spring DST transition (Trial 1), the week following it (Trial 2), and the fourth week after the transition (Trial 3). A subset of 13 participants also completed trials in the week prior to the Autumn return to civil time (Trial 4) and the week following it (Trial 5). The study measured driving-based performance via the standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP), physiological drowsiness via the percentage of eye closure (PERCLOS), and subjective fatigue using the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, Samn-Perelli Fatigue Scale, and Karolinska Sleepiness Scale. Statistical analyses utilized linear and cumulative link mixed-effect models to account for repeated measures and time-dependent fatigue accumulation. The results demonstrated significant adverse effects of DST on driving performance and physiological markers. Both SDLP and PERCLOS increased significantly in Trial 2 (immediately post-Spring transition) and remained elevated in Trial 3 (four weeks post-transition) compared to the baseline Trial 1, with no statistical difference between Trials 2 and 3. This indicates that the detrimental impact on fatigue persists throughout the DST period rather than resolving after the initial transition. Furthermore, vehicle lateral control worsened significantly in Trials 4 and 5 (around the Autumn transition) compared to Trial 1, with PERCLOS worsening up to Trial 4 before improving slightly in Trial 5. Crucially, subjective assessments revealed that participants were unaware of their deteriorating performance; while they reported increased sleepiness before the task in post-DST trials, they did not perceive a significant difference in fatigue levels during or after the driving tasks compared to the pre-DST baseline. The study concludes that DST has a sustained detrimental impact on driving fatigue, affecting both vehicle control and physiological alertness for the entire duration it is in place. The magnitude of this impairment is comparable to driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.5 g/L. These findings highlight the limitations of crash-data approaches, which may mask circadian risks due to confounding lighting factors, and underscore the need for countermeasures addressing sleep-related fatigue during DST periods.

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Topics

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• time on task
• circadian factors
• sleep deprivation