HALOPERIDOL AND DIAZEPAM, ALONE AND TOGETHER WITH ALCOHOL, IN RELATION TO DRIVING SAFETY

LARGE QUANTITIES OF ANTIANXIETY DRUGS ARE PRESCRIBED AND MAY EFFECT DRIVING SAFETY, IN PARTICULAR WHEN TAKEN TOGETHER WITH ALCOHOL. IN A DOUBLE-BLIND EXPERIMENT THREE GROUPS OF TWELVE 'HEALTHY' VOLUNTEERS RECIEVED TWO DOSES (MEAN INTERVAL 14 HOURS) OF EITHER 0.5 MG HALOPERIDOL, 5 MG DIAZEPAM OR PLACEBO. THEY WERE TESTED BEFORE AND AFTER EXPERIMENTAL ETHANOL INTOXICATION. PERFORMANCE ON MOTOR-SKILL TESTS RELATED TO DRIVING ABILITY WAS NOT AFFECTED BY EITHER DRUG. THE OBSERVED DECREMENT IN PERFORMANCE COULD BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE EFFECT OF ALCOHOL. THE POSSIBLE HAZARDS OF DRUG USE FOR THE DRIVER ARE NOTED, AS ARE THE DIFFICULTIES OF EXTRAPOLATION FROM THE RESULTS OF LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS TO ACTUAL DRIVING. THE NEED IS STRESSED FOR RESEARCH INTO THERAPEUTIC DRUG, AND DRUG-ALCOHOL EFFECTS, IN RELATION TO DRIVING SAFETY.

• Corporate Authors:

  Blutalkohol /Germany

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Milner, G
  • Landauer, A A
• Publication Date: 1973-7

Media Info

• Features: Tables;
• Pagination: p. 247-54
• Serial:
  • Volume: 10
  • Issue Number: 4

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohols; Driver performance; Drivers; Drugs; Drunk driving; Highway safety; Personnel performance
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00224485
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Research Institute
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 3 1974 12:00AM