A driver fatigue detection method based on combining a pseudo-three-dimensional (P3D) convolutional neural network (CNN) and an attention mechanism includes: 1) extracting a frame sequence from a video of a driver and processing the frame sequence; 2) performing spatiotemporal feature learning through a P3D convolution module; 3) constructing a P3D-Attention module, and applying attention on channels and a feature map through the attention mechanism; and 4) replacing a 3D global average pooling layer with a 2D global average pooling layer to obtain more expressive features, and performing a classification through a Softmax classification layer. By analyzing the yawning behavior, blinking and head characteristic movements, the yawning behavior is well distinguished from the talking behavior, and it is possible to effectively distinguish between the three states of alert state, low vigilant state and drowsy state, thus improving the predictive performance of fatigue driving behaviors.