Sustainability, Vol. 11, Pages 817: Classification of Driving Fatigue in High-Altitude Areas (Sustainability)

Driving fatigue is one of the main causes of traffic accidents. Thus, to prevent traffic accidents and ensure traffic safety, the properties of driving fatigue at the wheel must be determined. The Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in China is known for its high elevation, causing hypoxia, and presence of severely cold areas; all these easily lead to fatigue during driving. This, in turn, seriously affects the traffic safety on the high-altitude highway. Therefore, the factors leading to driving fatigue and the influence of high-altitude on driving fatigue affecting the driver must be further studied. In this study, we classified and quantified driving fatigue according to the driving fatigue degree. We determined three levels of driving fatigues (i.e., mild, moderate, and severe fatigues) to present their influence on drivers. Our study shows that in this high-altitude area, drivers became fatigued within a significantly shorter time.