APPLICATION OF A COMPUTERIZED BATTERY OF MENTAL TESTS FOR DRIVING AND WORKPLACE SAFETY
Graded dosages of alcohol (.01-.12 BAC) were regressed against a ten test computerized battery administered to 40 subjects in order to examine sensitivity and specificity. Multiple regression analyses comparing performance decrements to alcohol dosage were statistically predictive (R's > 0.60; p's <.001). Multiple cut-off analyses, using proportion of tests passed and size of the cut-off (in percent), permitted specificity (percentage correctly identified as being fit out of the total that are fit) above 97%; sensitivity (percentage identified as being unfit, out of the total who are unfit) was >80% for high dosages of alcohol; 60+% for low. We believe that these data support the feasibility of a performance-based test battery that is a simple and economic measure of alcohol impairment. Like fitness-for-duty metrics, automobile interlock devices should carefully weigh sensitivity and specificity as a source of error. Although both criteria should be as high as possible, in practical applications we believe specificity is the more important consideration. In the workplace, if multiple testings are possible, we believe 50-60% sensitivity with 97%+ specificity should be a design goal for fitness-for-duty applications and close to that (70-80% sensitivity, 90%+ specificity) for an automobile interlock device if used for habitual offenders. For the covering abstract see ITRD E106992.
- Record URL:
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Corporate Authors:
Swedish Road Administration
Borlange, Sweden SE-781 87 -
Authors:
- KENNEDY, R S
- COMPTON, D E
- DREXLER, J M
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Conference:
- PROCEEDINGS OF T2000 - 15TH CONFERENCE ON ALCOHOL, DRUGS AND TRAFFIC SAFETY
- Location: Stockholm , Sweden
- Date: 2000-5-22 to 2000-5-26
- Publication Date: 2000
Language
- English
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Aptitude; Computer programs; Drivers; Driving; Intoxication; Safety; Tests
- ITRD Terms: 1855: Driving (veh); 2226: Driving aptitude; 2231: Drunkenness; 1665: Safety; 8645: Software; 6255: Test
- Subject Areas: Safety and Human Factors;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 00804371
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
- Files: ITRD
- Created Date: Jan 5 2001 12:00AM