EFFECTS OF MODERATE BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVELS ON AUTOMOBILE PASSING BEHAVIOR

SIXTEEN CLINICALLY NORMAL INDIVIDUALS DROVE IN AN OPTICAL DRIVING SIMULATOR IN BOTH A NON-ALCOHOL AND AN ALCOHOL CONDITION. IN BOTH THE 0 MG% (.00%) AND THE 90 MG% (.09%) BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL CONDTIONS, EACH SUBJECT WAS GIVEN 60 TRIALS IN WHICH HE WAS REQUIRED TO MAKE AND EXECUTE A DECISION TO PASS OR TO CONTINUE FOLLOWING A LEAD CAR. TIMES AVAILABLE TO SAFELY COMPLETE A PASS AND VEHICLE SPEEDS WERE PRESENTED IN A RANDOM MANNER. DURING THE ALCOHOL CONDITION, SUBJECTS NOT ONLY ATTEMPTED AND COMPLETED SIGNIFICANTLY MORE PASSES BUT ALSO EXPERIENCED MORE ACCIDENTS. LATERAL CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE WAS SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED, WITH INCREASED DEVIATION FROM THE CENTER TRACK BEING EXHIBITED WHEN SUBJECTS PERFORMED UNDER THE ALCOHOL CONDITION. MEAN DECISION-REACTION TIMES INCREASED UNDER ALCOHOL AS DID ERROR SCORES ON A TEST OF EYE-HAND COORDINATION. RESULTS OF THIS EXPERIMENT SUGGEST THAT THE EFFECTS OF MODERATE LEVELS OF BLOOD ALCOHOL MUST BE EXAMINED NOT ONLY AS THEY AFFECT PERCEPTUAL MOTOR SKILLS, BUT ALSO AS THEY MAY MORE SUBTLY AFFECT RISK-TAKING BEHAVIOR AND DECISION PROCESSES INVOLVED IN OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • NO ICRL-RR-69-4
• Corporate Authors:

  Department of Health, Education and Welfare

  Injury Control Research Laboratory
  Washington, DC  United States  20201
• Authors:
  • Light, W O
  • Keiper, C G
• Publication Date: 1969-10

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: 21 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohols; Blood alcohol levels; Crashes; Decision making; Drunk driving; Hazards; Passing; Risk assessment
• Uncontrolled Terms: Experimental data
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223757
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-008 602, HS-011 225
• Files: HSL, TRIS
• Created Date: May 1 1983 12:00AM