Night-time Drivers Revisited

The idea of a re-purposed Wake-A-Thon for sleep communication came from a team of high school students (as part of the Vancouver Summer Sleep School, VSSS) in 2018.

The summer launched with guest lectures about vigilance from Drs. Gerhard Klösch and Wendy Hall. Leading the high school team to develop the goals of (1) learning to detect low vigilance; (2) understanding the effect of low vigilance on daytime behaviours, and (3) developing a way to communicate this knowledge to peers. Using the behavioural assessment concept developed previously at the lab, the team investigated the common misconceptions and signs of low vigilance of night-time drivers (via publicly available videos).

Additionally, the team, in conjunction with other VSSS 2018 members (university students), used an app (Ethica) to reflect on their vigilance through ‘selfies’. They found that the facial cues of selfies taken during (self-reported) low vigilance were the same as those in night-time drivers.

Finally, the team turned their focus to developing a novel communication concept. Eventually centering on a re-purposed Wake-A-Thon as a way for peers to experience and reflect on the effects of low vigilance by playing vigilance games.

The journey and accomplishments of the high school team is summarized in a poster, which is shown on the left and can be downloaded by clicking the button below.