Automatic drowsiness detection system to reduce road accident risks

Abstract

Drowsy driving poses a significant risk to road safety, often equated with impaired driving due to its detrimental effects on cognitive function. This study presents a real-time drowsiness detection system utilizing the YOLOv5 algorithm, enhanced with contrast limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) technique, to improve detection in low-light conditions. The proposed method analyzes visual cues indicative of drowsiness, such as eye closure and head nodding, leveraging advanced computer vision techniques. A dataset was augmented from 1,056 original images to 2,112 images via CLAHE, resulting in significant improvements in model performance. Experimental results indicate that the model achieves a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.959, with precision and recall values of 0.9529 and 0.9528, respectively, underscoring the effectiveness of CLAHE in enhancing image quality and overall detection performance. The application developed from this model provides timely alerts to drivers, aiming to prevent accidents and promote road safety. This research contributes to the advancement of automated safety systems in vehicles, particularly under challenging lighting conditions.