The effect on driver performance of blood alcohol concentrations below 50 mg% were studied in 1. A critical car driving situation involving emergency braking and evasive manoeuvres, 2. In a situation that followed upon the first one and that was a complete surprise to the 26 subjects. The latter situation was the sudden detection of a manshaped obstacle blocking the road-way. The results clearly show the detrimental effects of alcohol at a total bac-average of 42 mg%. this was demonstrated by the fact that significantly more pylons were hit by the drivers when under the influence of alcohol and also by the fact that they had significantly longer stopping distances. There was also a strong tendency for alcohol to impair performance in the surprise situation. Five drivers out of ten collided with the obstacle in the alcohol condition whereas this was the case for only one driver out of ten in the control condition.
Samenvatting