This study investigates effects of diabetes mellitus type 1 to driver performance and his/her ability to drive safely. Laboratory psychological assessment is used to evaluation of basic mental and personal capabilities which are known as risky aspects in the context of traffic human factor. The driver simulator test is used for evaluation of driver behaviour in various traffic conditions and situations. The same simulator test is applied for assessment of alcohol effect to driver behaviour. There is also comparison of diabetes, alcohol and fatigue effect arising from previous studies and reports. The methodology of this study resources from requirements to describe more detail risky areas, conditions and possibilities of safety attendance of diabetes patients in the traffic as drivers and to discover other relevant circumstances including social context and education processes. The test battery was build on the base of long time used methodologies of driver assessment which were developed step by step and evaluated on large number of drivers. These methods constitute complex of needing psychical capabilities and personal qualities in relation to safety driver behaviour and risky ranges of received values. All of tests have their driver norms therefore the control group of psychological assessment is not needed. Selection of particular tests was consulted with diabetes experts and education staff as well as special questionnaire focusing to driver practice, experience and opinion in context of driver attendance in traffic, level of adjustment with illness and other. Diabetes parameters of particular participants were collected in co-operation with diabetologies. The driver simulator test was prepared and developed in close co-operation with diabetes experts and auto school instructors. It constitutes the basic driver tasks, risky traffic situations, various traffic and climatic conditions and also simulated drive behaviour of other drivers. Three groups of drivers were involved in this test – diabetic drivers (the same as of psychological assessment one), control group of healthy and alcohol non impaired drivers and group of drivers under affect of alcohol. All participants were voluntaries, diabetic patients were only recommended by their doctors to attend. Difficulty problems were appeared with this system of requirement therefore the sample of diabetic drivers of this study is not so representative as authors supposed and intended to keep. Results of psychological assessment and driver simulator test were processed by standard statistical method of significant deviations between norms and obtained values, or significant deviations between two independent samples. Meaningful correlations between diabetes parameters (duration of illness, doses of insulin and mode of application) were evaluated too. Further information about IMMORTAL can be found on the website see http://www.immortal.or.at/ (Author/publisher)
Abstract