THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON DECISION-MAKING WITH RESPECT TO TRAFFIC SIGNALS

A STUDY TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE ABILITY TO PERFORM SIMPLE DRIVING TASKS IS IMPAIRED AT BLOOD ALCOHOL OF .05-.10%, AND WHETHER DEGREE OF IMPAIRMENT DIFFERS AS A FUNCTION OF RISING OR FALLING BLOOD ALCOHOL CURVE IS DISCUSSED. TWENTY SUBJECTS BETWEEN 21 AND 38 YEARS OF AGE WERE TESTED IN A DRIVING SIMULATOR FOR THEIR ABILITY TO REACT APPROPRIATELY TO A TRAFFIC SIGNAL LIGHT. RUNS WERE MADE AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS AND AT DIFFERENT BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVELS. RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE MODERATE BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL TESTED DID SIGNIFICANTLY IMPAIR SIMPLE DRIVING TASK PERFORMANCE, AND THAT AN IDENTICAL BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL PRODUCED FEWER ERRORS ON THE DESCENDING CURVE THAN ON THE ASCENDING ONE. /HSL/

• Corporate Authors:

  Department of Health, Education and Welfare

  Injury Control Research Laboratory
  Washington, DC  United States  20201
• Authors:
  • Lewis Jr, E M
  • Sarlanis, K
• Publication Date: 1968-9

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 24 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Age; Alcohols; Blood alcohol levels; Driver performance; Drivers; Driving simulators; Personnel performance; Reaction time; Speed; Traffic signals
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223101
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Highway Safety Literature
• Report/Paper Numbers: ICRL-RR-68-4
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 24 1970 12:00AM