Like Australia, India is a huge country with many relatively deserted and exceptionally long highways … and that means ‘white line fever’ is a major issue in both countries.
This is basically a mental state in which a driver becomes partially disengaged from the act of driving, despite remaining physically capable of controlling the vehicle. This ‘highway hypnosis’ is responsible for losses of alertness countless accidents across the globe.
Now, an Indian team has come up with a system it says can detect the onset of reduced alertness; and stimulate the driver back into a state of awareness, all without causing panic or distraction.
And with an international patent, Professor Sanjay Dhoble from Nagpur University’s Department of Physics, told the Grey Nomads that the LUM Alert system directly aligns with Australia’s road safety challenge.
A series of LED panels along highways could help to break the monotony of a long road trip. PIC: Nagpur University
He says integrating low-power LED panels and LED trees along highways would provide dynamic visual cues that break the monotony of long, featureless roads.
The LUM Alert system is based on a UV-LED and smart lighting visual cue mechanism, carefully engineered to deliver Periodic Visual Stimuli by introducing intermittent flashes or glows of light at preprogrammed intervals.
These visual cues are nonintrusive, meaning they do not obstruct the driver’s view or cause glare. Instead, they provide a small ‘surprise element’ in the otherwise monotonous environment, which is enough to re-activate the brain’s attention centres.
“In everyday driving within city environments, drivers encounter constant changes – pedestrians crossing, traffic lights switching, or vehicles merging – which keeps them alert,” he says. “On highways, these stimuli are absent … LUM Alert replicates this dynamic variability artificially, creating micro-events that the brain subconsciously registers, thereby restoring vigilance.”
Professor Dhoble says that, after some time, the driver would not consciously be aware of each visual cue but subconsciously the brain would continue to process the changes in light, ensuring that the driver’s attention system remains activated.
The LUM Alert device can adapt based on driving duration and environmental conditions so, for example, it will use slightly stronger – but still soft illumination – during the day than it would at night.
The LUM Alert Project is in the development and demonstration phase, currently being designed for possible deployment in commercial fleets, long-distance buses, and private vehicles in India … and that could be just the start.
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Not sure if this is true, but when I was trucking in the U.K. I heard that someone tried to avoid a bridge that was “rapidly coming towards me in the opposite direction” and ended up using the embankment as a taking off ramp and landing in a farmer’s corn field.
In another, someone claimed they “had to duck” while going under a railway bridge.
Anything that can prevent someone being hypnotised by the white lines would be beneficial to all those travelling at night.