Fallin asleep while driving is fatal. I guess nobody in Singapore worries about this phenomenon because drivers have no chance of dozing off on the cluttered roads in this small island. You need a long and straight stretch of highway, kilometers after kilometers of it wihout a traffic jam, to fall asleep behind the wheel.

Your Mobile Ojisan, too, has had his share of scary moments. Once upon a time on a bush highway in far off Nigeria, he dozed off while on the saddle of a motorcycle, running at more than 100kmh. Next moment, I found myself lying flat on my back in the roadside shrubland, staring into the sun. My motorcycle also was lying somewhere 100m ahead, its engine still running strong. Luckily, both myself and my motorcycle did not receive considerable damage.

Of course, there is an instant remedy against this danger. Almost all drivers in West Africa constantly chew Kola nuts while behind the wheel. Yes, once one of the two infamous ingredients of Coca Cola. (The fate of the other ingredient, you know very well!) Kola nut, which comes from Cola nitida, a native plant in West African rainforest, contains enough dose of tannin and caffeine to make even the diehardest zombies insomniac.

Vision Optic's MyDo Bururu eyeglasses with anti-dozing alarm unit. Works better than a cup of extra strong espresso?

In Japan, since Kola nuts are totally unavailable, you have to be content with caffeine-chewing gum, though it's a pale shadow of the bitter and powerful Kola nuts.

A pair of driving eyeglasses with warning against dozing off, not a preventive device, has been released by an eyeglass merchant, Vision Optic Co. of Osaka. MyDo Bururu is a collaboration job with an aftermarket automobile component developer, Takanoha Co. of Tokyo. Takanoha has been selling its hit product, Nap Alarm, for a couple of years. This small hang-behind-ear device has a mechanical acceleration sensor which detects a sudden "dozing off" movement of driver's head (short and quick nodding of head), and beeps with an unnerving noise. Obviously, a lot of Japanese drivers felt dissatisfaction over caffeine-chewing gum, and Nap Alarm soon became pretty popular instead.

Now, the Vision Optic eyeglasses and takanoha product have been combined. Well, this MyDo Bururu can be an extremely handy and useful product for safety on the highway. Instead of a beep, MyDo vibrates wildly and drivers willy-nilly wake up. Besides, the sensitivity of the sensor can be fine-tuned in four positions to accommodate the driver's idiosyncrasies.

Takanoha's Nap Alarm. It costs only 1,800 yen.

Battery is a mercury button (LR44), and works for around a month or so. The sensor-vibrator unit can be detached easily when the driver feels absolutely sure he won't fall asleep.

The price tag is not very encouraging. 45,000 yen (US$380), including lens and fitting at optician's. If you want to buy only Takanoha's Nap Alarm, it costs just 1,800 yen (US$15)! Vision Optic attacks, mainly, the fleet owners' market like taxis, buses and trucking joints. But individual drivers can purchase it at Vision Optic's retailers all over Japan.

 

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