Tool and Die CEO, Doctor Team Up for Invention
A great example of how the tooling industry is critical not only for sustainability but also innovation…(News-Sentinel)
Most of us who have ever driven a car for more than a few hours, particularly after too little shuteye the night before or after a heavy lunch, have experienced droopy eyelids. It is frightful and frustrating as we attempt to fight off the drowsiness.
For more than 1,500 people a year, DWD – driving while drowsy – is fatal, and the problem causes at least 100,000 non-fatal accidents a year, although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggests such accidents are under-reported.
Fort Wayne ophthalmologist Dr. Earl Braunlin has experienced drowsy driving, and during his many years as a physician has heard patient after patient describe close calls.
“There are so many people who get in accidents from falling asleep while driving,” Braunlin said, noting the older you are, the greater the risk. “Most people who are 70 or 75 or older – if they’re honest, they’ll tell you they’ve fallen asleep at the wheel.”
So about 10 years ago he embarked on finding some way to prevent people from falling asleep while driving. He elicited the help of Steve Gildea, an engineer and CEO of GT Automation Group, a Fort Wayne tool and die company. Together they came up with a simple device they say will alert people when they are beginning to fall asleep at the wheel.
Gildea fashioned a steering wheel cover under which are wires controlled by a pressure sensitive switch. If solid pressure with at least one hand is not applied to the wheel, a blaring sound is heard.
“When people go to sleep they let go of the steering wheel,” Gildea said. You don’t have to be all the way asleep, before “the muscles begin to relax,” and the tension of the hands on the wheel is lessened enough to sound the alarm.
Gildea and Braunlin have not yet obtained a patent on the device, but Gildea has filed papers that prove when he invented the device. Braunlin said they are not out to make a lot of money, “but we would like to generate interest and find someone to market it.” Their goal is to get an auto parts chain to retail and install the device, although Braunlin admits, “we wouldn’t mind making a little something for all our work.”
This is not the first device invented to prevent people falling asleep while driving. Braunlin’s extensive research has found dozens of drowsy driving prevention devices, including some with patents. But most, he said, are too complicated for the average person to set up. One device marketed mainly to truckers detects closure of the eye but “it goes off when you didn’t want it to,” Braunlin said. Several others are worn over the ear and sound an alarm when a person’s head begins drooping, but those often emit an alarm when the head is turned to one side or another. Braunlin knows because he’s tried most of them.
Braunlin and Gildea have not given their device a name, leaving that for a retailer or marketing company. Nor have they determined a cost – though it’s likely to be “under $500,” Braunlin says, noting that the price would go down as more orders come in.
Braunlin uses the device and says it has helped him stay awake during out-of-town trips.
Whether their device catches on remains to be seen, but something must be done.
Safety experts say it isn’t enough to roll down the window or turn up the radio to prevent drowsy driving.
A study released in March by the National Sleep Foundation found more than one in two adult drivers said they had driven while drowsy in the past year, with more than one in four reporting they had actually fallen asleep while driving.
