Although quantifying the responsibility of hypnotic drugs as a cause of traffic accidents is a complex task, their consumption does indeed appear to increase involvement in traffic accidents. The impairment of alertness after taking benzodiazepines is well known. This is why the pharmaceutical companies have developed new families of hypnotics similar to benzodiazepines, such as imidazopyridines or cyclopyrrolones. Whilst the acute and chronic effects of these compounds now appear to be firmly established, the same cannot be said for their residual effects. An open preliminary study on a driving simulator with Zolpidem 10 mg showed residual effects for a group performing the driving test at 9.00 am and the absence of residual effects for the 11.00 am group, the test being carried out in both cases 12 h after drug administration (Etard et al 1995). This result could have been due to an indirect chronobiological effect resulting in increased post-hypnotic inertia. The protocol followed in this study was adapted so as to bring out this effect. (A)
Abstract