Lim, S. M., & Chia, S. E. (2015). The prevalence of fatigue and associated health and safety risk factors among taxi drivers in Singapore. Singapore Medical Journal, 92–97. https://doi.org/10.11622/smedj.2014169
This article studies the effects of health conditions on taxi drivers in Singapore, and the risk factors associated with fatigue driving. A survey was conducted on 255 taxi drivers in a local taxi company, requiring the participants to evaluate their fatigue level daily using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. From the survey and past statistics obtained from the Department of Statistics, Lim and Chia observed that fatigue had a significant correlation with poor quality of sleep, other part-time jobs, consumption of more than 3 cups of coffees, and driving more than 10 hours a day. It was also mentioned that due to the irregular schedules and long driving hours, participants are more likely to develop complicated medical conditions due to their “physically sedentary lifestyle”. Further research would be required to ascertain if the driver’s shift status would be considered as a risk factor. Lim and Chia then went on to conclude that the National Taxi Association and government agencies should discuss and implement countermeasures for fatigued driving, which may lead to better overall performance for drivers and a decrease in traffic accidents.
The article provides circumstantial information to substantiate the need to emphasize the driver’s health condition, as proposed in our research project. Lim and Chia noted that there might have been drivers that were undiagnosed, resulting in incomplete data entry. Depending on the age group, taxi drivers in Singapore are required by law to undergo a health check-up to ensure they are fit to drive with passengers onboard the vehicle. However, chronic diseases such as high cholesterol may not be detected by the systems. Thus, it is necessary to have countermeasures in place to monitor the driver’s health condition, which will prompt the driver when abnormalities are detected.
Reviewed for Jing Kai and Jin Han
Updated as of 1 December 2020
Dear Herman,
ReplyDeleteThank you for writing this annotated summary. After reading it, I have seen the importance of having adequate rest. As driving requires attention on the road consistently, it is crucial for the drivers to pay utmost attention on the road to avoid any accidents. All the need, it is a serious issue to solve. It is a good issue to tackle and discuss about.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Jin Han
Dear Jin Han,
DeleteThank you for your kind comments. I appreciate that you have found my article to be impactful, and I hope to be able to spread the awareness to more people.
Sincerely yours,
Herman
Dear Herman,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing with us this article, and taking your time to do this aticle.
Through this article we can tell the importance on how we should look out for driver's who are feeling unwell or drowsy and they should not be on the road in times like this.
Yours Sincerely,
Bryan Lim
DeleteDear Bryan,
Thank you for the kind comments. It is absolutely critical that drivers' should be aware of their own condition, to prevent any potential accidents from happening. This would ultimately benefit both road users and the drivers themselves.
Best Regards,
Herman
Dear Bryan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind comments. It is absolutely critical that drivers' should be aware of their own condition, to prevent any potential accidents from happening. This would ultimately benefit both road users and the drivers themselves.
Best Regards,
Herman
Thanks for the revision, Herman.
ReplyDelete