Saccadic eye movements and blinks during long-term driving on the Autobahn with minimal alcohol ingestion.

This paper describes research on measurement of saccadic eye-movements and blinks on 15 drivers. They drove at least six hours on the autobahn and the effects of task, tiredness and alcohol were tested. A clear effect of city vs. autobahn driving was found, i.e. a significantly higher value in the mean saccadic amplitude, the saccadic velocity, the eyelid closure velocity, the blink interval and a lower value in the mean fixation duration while driving in the city. The significance of these results are discussed.