STROKOVNA LITERATURA V ANGLEŠČINI

Study of the Effects of Alcohol on Drivers and Driving Performance on Straight Road

POVZETEK: Drinking driving is responsible for a high proportion of traffic accidents. To study the effects of alcohol on drivers and driving performance, 25 drivers’ subjective feelings and driving performance data in different blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) levels were collected with simulated driving experiment. The investigation results revealed that alcohol affected drivers in many aspects, including attitude, judgment, vigilance, perception, reaction, and controlling. The analysis of accident rate showed that higher BAC level would lead to higher accident rate. The statistical analysis results of driving performance indicated that average speed, speed standard deviation, and lane position standard deviation were significantly higher under the influence of alcohol. They also had a statistically significant linear trend as the function of BAC level. The discrimination of drinking driving based on driving performance was performed with Fisher discrimination method. The results showed that drinking driving with higher BAC level was easier to discriminate from normal driving. Also, the results indicated that the three significant indicators on straight roadway could be used in the discrimination of drinking driving state. The conclusions can provide references for the study of drinking driving and the identification of driving state and then contribute to traffic safety.

VIR: Zhao, X., Zhang, X. in Rong, J. (2014). Study of the Effects of Alcohol on Drivers and Driving Performance on Straight Road. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, 2014, 1-9.

Več: Study of the Effects of Alcohol on Drivers and Driving Performance on Straight Road

Acute disinhibiting effects of alcohol as a factor in risky driving behavior

POVZETEK: Automobile crash reports show that up to 40% of fatal crashes in the United States involve alcohol and that younger drivers are over-represented. Alcohol use among young drivers is associated with impulsive and risky driving behaviors, such as speeding, which could contribute to their over representation in alcohol-related crash statistics. Recent laboratory studies show that alcohol increases impulsive behaviors by impairing the drinker’s ability to inhibit inappropriate actions and that this effect can be exacerbated in conflict situations where the expression and inhibition of behavior are equally motivating. The present study tested the hypothesis that this response conflict might also intensify the disruptive effects of alcohol on driving performance. Fourteen subjects performed a simulated driving and a cued go/no-go task that measured their inhibitory control. Conflict was motivated in these tasks by providing equal monetary incentives for slow, careful behavior (e.g., slow driving, inhibiting impulses) and for quick, abrupt behavior (fast driving, disinhibition). Subjects were tested under two alcohol doses (0.65 g/kg and a placebo) that were administered twice: when conflict was present and when conflict was absent. Alcohol interacted with conflict to impair inhibitory control and to increase risky and impaired driving behavior on the drive task. Also, individuals whose inhibitory control was most impaired by alcohol displayed the poorest driving performance under the drug. The study demonstrates potentially serious disruptions to driving performance as a function of alcohol intoxication and response conflict, and points to inhibitory control as an important underlying mechanism.

VIR: Fillmore, M. T., Blackburn, J. S., in Harrison, E. L. R. (2008). Acute disinhibiting effects of alcohol as a factor in risky driving behavior. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 95(1-2), 97–106.

Več: Acute disinhibiting effects of alcohol as a factor in risky driving behavior

Alcohol and distraction interact to impair driving performance

POVZETEK: Background—Recognition of the risks associated with alcohol intoxication and driver distraction has led to a wealth of simulated driving research aimed at studying the adverse effects of each of these factors. Research on driving has moved beyond the individual, separate examination of these factors to the examination of potential interactions between alcohol intoxication and driver distraction. In many driving situations, distractions are commonplace and might have little or no disruptive influence on primary driving functions. Yet, such distractions might become disruptive to a driver who is intoxicated.

Methods—The present study examined the interactive impairing effects of alcohol intoxication and driver distraction on simulated driving performance in 40 young adult drivers using a divided attention task as a distracter activity. The interactive influence of alcohol and distraction was tested by having drivers perform the driving task under four different conditions: 0.65 g/kg alcohol; 0.65 g/kg alcohol + divided attention; placebo; and placebo + divided attention.

Results—As hypothesized, divided attention had no impairing effect on driving performance in sober drivers. However, under alcohol, divided attention exacerbated the impairing effects of alcohol on driving precision.

Conclusions—Alcohol and distraction continue to be appropriate targets for research into ways to reduce the rates of driving-related fatalities and injuries. Greater consideration of how alcohol and distraction interact to impair aspects of driving performance can further efforts to create prevention and intervention measures to protect drivers, particularly young adults.

VIR: Harrison, E. L. R., in Fillmore, M. T. (2011). Alcohol and distraction interact to impair driving performance. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 117(1), 31–37.

Več: Alcohol and distraction interact to impair driving performance

Effects of Acute Alcohol Tolerance on Perceptions of Danger and Willingness to Drive after Drinking

POVZETEK: Rationale—Drinking and driving is associated with elevated rates of motor vehicle accidents and fatalities. Previous research suggests that alcohol impairs judgments about the dangers of risky behaviors; however, how alcohol affects driving-related judgments is less clear. Impairments have also been shown to differ across limbs of the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) curve, which is known as acute tolerance.

Objectives—Examine whether perceptions about the dangerousness of driving after drinking and willingness to drive differed across ascending and descending limbs of the BAC curve. Test whether reductions in perceived danger were associated with willingness to drive on the descending limb.

Methods—Fifty-six participants were randomly assigned to receive either a moderate dose of alcohol (peak BAC = 0.10 g%) or placebo. We assessed perceived dangerousness and willingness to drive at matched BACs (~0.067-0.068 g%) on the ascending and descending limbs.

Results—Both perceived danger and willingness to drive showed acute tolerance in the alcohol group. Participants judged driving to be significantly less dangerous and were more willing to drive on the descending limb compared to the ascending limb. The magnitude of change in perceived danger significantly predicted willingness to drive on the descending limb. Conclusions—Decreased impairment associated with acute tolerance may lead individuals to underestimate the dangerousness of driving after drinking and in turn make poor decisions regarding driving. This study further emphasizes the descending limb as a period of increased risk and offers support for enhancing prevention efforts by targeting drivers at declining BAC levels.

VIR: Amlung, M. T., Morris, D. H., in McCarthy, D. M. (2014). Effects of Acute Alcohol Tolerance on Perceptions of Danger and Willingness to Drive after Drinking. Psychopharmacology, 231(22), 4271–4279.

Več: Effects of Acute Alcohol Tolerance on Perceptions of Danger and Willingness to Drive after Drinking

Dose-Related Effects of Alcohol on Cognitive Functioning

POVZETEK: We assessed the suitability of six applied tests of cognitive functioning to provide a single marker for dose-related alcohol intoxication. Numerous studies have demonstrated that alcohol has a deleterious effect on specific areas of cognitive processing but few have compared the effects of alcohol across a wide range of different cognitive processes. Adult participants (N = 56, 32 males, 24 females aged 18–45 years) were randomized to control or alcohol treatments within a mixed design experiment involving multiple-dosages at approximately one hour intervals (attained mean blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of 0.00, 0.048, 0.082 and 0.10%), employing a battery of six psychometric tests; the Useful Field of View test (UFOV; processing speed together with directed attention); the Self-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT; working memory); Inspection Time (IT; speed of processing independent from motor responding); the Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP; strategic optimization); the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART; vigilance, response inhibition and psychomotor function); and the Trail-Making Test (TMT; cognitive flexibility and psychomotor function). Results demonstrated that impairment is not uniform across different domains of cognitive processing and that both the size of the alcohol effect and the magnitude of effect change across different dose levels are quantitatively different for different cognitive processes. Only IT met the criteria for a marker for wide-spread application: reliable dose-related decline in a basic process as a function of rising BAC level and easy to use non-invasive task properties.

VIR: Dry, M. J., Burns, N. R., Nettelbeck, T., Farquharson, A. L., in White, J. M. (2012). Dose-Related Effects of Alcohol on Cognitive Functioning. PLoS ONE, 7(11), e50977.

Več: Dose-Related Effects of Alcohol on Cognitive Functioning

Acute tolerance to alcohol impairment of behavioral and cognitive mechanisms related to driving: drinking and driving on the descending limb.

POVZETEK: Rationale: Alcohol effects on behavioral and cognitive mechanisms influence impaired driving performance and decisions to drive after drinking (Barry 1973; Moskowitz and Robinson 1987). To date, research has focused on the ascending limb of the blood alcohol curve, and there is little understanding of how acute tolerance to impairment of these mechanisms might influence driving behavior on the descending limb. Objectives: To provide an integrated examination of the degree to which alcohol impairment of motor coordination and inhibitory control contributes to driving impairment and decisions to drive on the ascending and descending limbs of the blood alcohol curve. Methods: Social-drinking adults (N = 20) performed a testing battery that measured simulated driving performance and willingness to drive, as well as mechanisms related to driving: motor coordination (grooved pegboard), inhibitory control (cued go/no-go task), and subjective intoxication. Performance was tested in response to placebo and a moderate dose of alcohol (0.65 g/kg) twice at comparable blood alcohol concentrations: once on the ascending limb and again on the descending limb. Results: Impaired motor coordination and subjective intoxication showed acute tolerance, whereas driving performance and inhibitory control showed no recovery from impairment. Greater motor impairment was associated with poorer driving performance under alcohol, and poorer inhibitory control was associated with more willingness to drive. Conclusions: Findings suggest that acute tolerance to impairment of motor coordination is insufficient to promote recovery of driving performance and that the persistence of alcohol-induced disinhibition might contribute to risky decisions to drive on the descending limb.

VIR: Weafer, J., in Fillmore, M. T. (2012). Acute tolerance to alcohol impairment of behavioral and cognitive mechanisms related to driving: drinking and driving on the descending limb. Psychopharmacology, 220(4), 697–706.

Več: Acute tolerance to alcohol impairment of behavioral and cognitive mechanisms related to driving: drinking and driving on the descending limb.