Citation

Gerchow J. Blutalkohol 1976; 13(5): 341-357.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1976, International Committee on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety and Bund gegen Alkohol und Drogen im Straßenverkehr, Publisher Steintor Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Twelve drivers were selected for testing from 15000 who made voluntary application for the test, and who believed that they could drive equally well when under the influence of alcohol as when they were sober. The tests, which were conducted over a period of 3 days, took place in a modern driving simulator and involved blood alcohol concentrations of 0.5 and 0.8 g/litre. Each subject completed a total of 25 to 30 simulated journeys of 5 minutes each, and about 30 tests of various types. Since the test subjects knew whether a practice or an evaluation program was running, the test results were achieved, without doubt, with mobilisation of all reserves, and with mutual checks and more than average motivation to strive for performance. For this reason, the practice drives under the influence of alcohol showed basically less favourable results. The extent to which the subjects were prepared to take risks was greatly increased in those conditions. In the test, a synthetic road, programmed by a perforated strip, was displayed on a monitor in front of the driver. It was not possible to represent complex traffic situations, such as opposing traffic or anticipation of dangerous situations and unforeseen obstructions. All the results of the tests revealed the known increase in subjective feelings of competence. objective objectve capacity however did not correspond with the increased subjective feeling of competence. Particular conclusions were drawn from the tendency of the drivers to deviate away from the right hand traffic lane, and it was assumed that 8 of the 12 subjects would have been involved in a serious accident in a real situation.