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  • This episode of Dnews was proudly made possible by the all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy - it’s

  • not just a sedan, it’s a Subaru.

  • Driver fatigue causes thousands of deaths every single year - so what if there was a

  • device that could alert you whenever you start to fall asleep?

  • Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - and chances are, most of the people out there watching

  • this own a car. And if you drive relatively often, then there’s also a chance youve

  • driven in unsafe conditions. And by unsafe, I don’t mean drunk or bad weather conditions

  • - I’m talking about driving while tired.

  • About 20% of all car accidents involve a drowsy driver, which leads to almost 7,000 fatalities

  • every year. Truck drivers, young male drivers, and shift workers are especially vulnerable

  • to drowsy driving. It lowers your reaction time, and impairs your concentration and alertness.

  • But even scarier, is the fact that there aren’t any laws - at least here in America - against

  • driving while drowsy. Which is why many auto makers and companies are now trying to develop

  • technology to prevent those kinds of accidents before they happen.

  • Researchers at the Biomechanics Institute in Spain, recently created a device that can

  • monitor cardiac and respiratory rhythms in a driver, through sensors that are embedded

  • in the seat-belt and seat cover.

  • Heart rate and breathing rate are the two single most important indicators of fatigue,

  • so by monitoring those vitals, this system can effectively alert you if youre starting

  • to fall asleep at the wheel. When a driver’s respiratory rate falls below a certain level,

  • a warning mechanism goes off that alerts the driver, avoiding a potential collision. The

  • system is also covered in a smart material to cancel out the effects of road vibration,

  • or any driver movements.

  • According to its creators, they now have a fully-functional prototype that can be implemented

  • into any car. Currently, it’s being tested on closed tracks only, but those tests have

  • yielded positive results, and its creators are hopeful that theyll soon be able to

  • test the system in real-world traffic scenarios.

  • Just imagine how many lives we could save with technology like this. As someone who

  • once lost a good friend myself to drowsy driving, I have to say - I do wish something like this

  • had come along sooner, but on the whole, I could not be more excited about this.

  • While were on the topic of driving, we wanna extend a quick thank you to Subaru,

  • for making this episode possible. And especially the all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy. Every sedan

  • has its benefits, but only one combines them all. It’s not just a sedan. It’s a Subaru.

  • And hey - be sure to let us know in the comments below, if you ever get sleepy while driving

  • - and what your best remedy is to combat driver fatigue. That’s all for me, but as always

  • - thank you guys for watching!

This episode of Dnews was proudly made possible by the all-new 2015 Subaru Legacy - it’s

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