Drowsiness detectors are a great way of cutting down the number of road accidents due to sleepy driving. Researchers from the Washington State University developed and are testing a different approach based on the position and movement of the steering wheel instead of sensors to monitor a driver's face.

“Video-based systems that use cameras to detect when a car is drifting out of its lane are cumbersome and expensive. They don’t work well on snow-covered or curvy roads, in darkness or when lane markers are faded or missing,” according to Hans van Dongen, one of the university professors working on the project.

Watch it in the video after the jump: