THE EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL ON THE DRIVER'S VISUAL INFORMATION PROCESSING

Twenty-seven male subjects were tested in a driving simulator to study the effects of alcohol on visual information processing and allocation of attention. Subjects were required to control heading angle, maintain a constant speed, search for critical events, and respond to route signs while viewing a 15 minute film of a drive along a rural roadway. Visual information processing demand was manipulated by testing one subgroup (N=13) on a familiar roadway and route and another subgroup (N=14) on unfamiliar roadways and routes. Eye movements and task performance scores were measured. Subjects were tested under blood alcohol concentrations of 0% (placebo), 0.085% and 0.125%. Alcohol generally impaired performance on all subtasks, but the level of impairment on visual tasks was related to the information processing demand. The route familiar group was less impaired on perceptual tasks then the route unfamiliar group. A shift in allocation of attention was also found under alcohol. Eye dwell duration was sensitive to information processing load as well as BAC level. The results suggest two possible types of countermeasures for further study: (1) consideration of impaired driver states in design of highway signing and delineations, and (2) driver training and education directed towards self-awareness of impairment.

• Corporate Authors:

  Southern California Research Institute

  6305 Arizona Place
  Los Angeles, CA  United States  90045

  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Ziedman, K
  • Moskowitz, H
  • Niemann, R A
• Publication Date: 1980-9

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 142 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcoholic beverages; Blood alcohol levels; Driver performance; Drivers; Drunk driving; Ethanol; Eye movements; Human information processing; Perception; Performance evaluations; Personnel performance; Reaction time; Vision; Visual perception
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver reaction
• Old TRIS Terms: Driver perception; Driver vision
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00337207
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: Final Rpt., HS-805 748
• Contract Numbers: DOT-HS-5-01233
• Files: HSL, NTIS, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 15 1982 12:00AM