Showing papers in "Alcohol, drugs and driving in 1993"

Do we really drive as we live? the role of personality factors in road crashes

Abstract: This paper examines the role of personality as one factor that contributes to individual differences in driving behaviors and the risk of motor vehicle crash involvement. The paper also discusses the influence of alcohol on the expression of personality traits. From an extensive body of literature 6 broad dimensions of personality were found to be most strongly and consistently related to driver behavior and/or crash involvement - thrill-seeking, impulsivenesss, hostility/aggression, emotional instability, depression, and locus of control. These personality factors have been shown to account for as much as 10 to 20% of the variance in driver crash involvement and up to 35% of the variance in measures of risky driving behavior. The literature also suggests that personality may interact with expectancies about the effects of alcohol to enhance aggressive and thrill-seeking behavior. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for traffic safety.

The identification of multiple accident correlates in high risk drivers with specific emphasis on the role of age, experience and prior traffic violation frequency

Abstract: This paper reviews a number of studies which have attempted to isolate driver accident risk correlates through multivariate and multiple regression techniques. Multivariate approaches evaluate the interrelation among multiple risk factors and attempt to establish the relative predictive power of each variable within the context of a large set of variates. The review is limited to general (non-commercial) drivers. It is shown that no single variable, or set of variables, can accurately predict the subsequent accident involvement rates of individual drivers. However, a large number of driver characteristics affect the likelihood of a driver's accident involvement and these relationships can be used to make acturial predictions. Among the most consistent predictors of increased risk are: poor history of accidents and traffic convictions; being young; being male; being inexperienced; being from a lower socioeconomic status background; increased exposure; poor social adjustment; and certain attitudinal and personality traits. A hypothetical scheme is presented for integrating the preceding relationships into a comprehensive explanatory model.

Traffic safety and individual differences in drivers' attention and information processing capacity

Abstract: Driver inattention and deficiencies in information processing have been shown to be major factors in accident causation. Also common is the view of the driver as a human information processor in a closed-loop negative feedback model where driver actions are based on visual inputs which are the combined effect of the environment and the driver's immediately previous actions. This has led to the search for individual differences in driver's attentional and information processing capcities that would account for differential accident involvement. Fairly consistent findings have been obtained in 2 domains: the ability to switch attention and field independence. People with reduced capacity in either measure are over-involved in accidents. However, a shortcoming of this approach is that it fails to consider interaction between information processing capacity and other dirver characteristics. The dirver's personality, needs, and intentions appear to determine the driving style, which in turn determines the situation in which the driver is likely to find himmself, and which may or may not tax the driver's attention and information processing capacities.

Passive alcohol sensors in law enforcement screening for alcohol-impaired drivers

Abstract: The effectiveness and accuracy of passive alcohol sensors in detecting impaired drivers during routine police traffic stops were assessed. Sixteen police officers in Columbus, Ohio, participated in a study in which passive alcohol sensors were used on alternate nights. On nights with the sensors, the number of drivers with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10 or greater detected by the officers increased from 69% to 77%. The passive alcohol sensor correctly warned of likely alcohol impairment for 81% of the drivers with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.10 or greater. Only three false positive readings (less than 1%) were obtained. When combined with other field studies, the results indicate a statistically significant increase in the detection of alcohol-impaired drivers when patrol officers use passive alcohol sensors in routine traffic stops. As more states pass laws lowering the per se blood alcohol concentration threshold from 0.10 to 0.08%, the use of passive alcohol sensors will become even more important.

Comments on driver behavior and its role in traffic crashes

Abstract: The universe of all traffic crashes can be disaggregated in many ways such as by the number of vehicles involved, by the age of the involved drivers, by the sex of the drivers, or by whether the drivers were drunk or sober. Disaggregation by any particular variable does not imply that disaggregation by any other variable is inappropriate. The present paper focuses on disaggregating all crashes by one factor, namely, drive behaviors associated with crash involvement. Such behavior is discussed as stemming from 3 sources: miscalculation of risk; risk taking for its own sake; intentional acts. Knowing the source of the behavior associated with crashes is important in proposing countermmeasures. Miscalculation of risks arises from inadequate knowledge or understanding, and may be addressed by education. Behavior with origins other than lack of knowledge is unlikely to be changed by supplying more knowledge, and other countermeasures must be sought.

Driver fatigue and road safety

Abstract: Fatigue is defined as a subjectively experienced disinclination to continue performing the task in hand because of perceived reductions in efficiency. Its causation is a joint function of continuous time on task, circadian factors innd inadequate sleep. It has dangerous implications for road safety because it impairs self-perceptions of driving competence and because of individual motivation or commercial pressures to complete journeys even when fatigue effects are correctly perceived by drivers. The behavioral implications of driver fatigue are outlined and their potential interactionas with other variables implicated causally in road accidents are briefly discussed. Accident countermeasures against effects of driver fatigue are reviewed and those employing advanced transport telematics are seen to provide the greatest scope for improving road safety.

Factors associated with high blood alcohol concentrations among fatally injured drivers in the United States, 1991

Abstract: Although alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes declined in the 1980s, they remain a major problem in the 1990s. In this report, driver and crash factors associated with high blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) were studied in 23 states that in 1991 conducted chemical tests for alcohol on adeqate proportions of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers. In these states in 1991, 40% of fatally injured passenger vehicle drivers had BACs greater or equal to .10%; 21% had very high BACs, greater than or equal to .20%. Factors prominently associated with high BACs were younger age, male, late night hours, lack of seat belt use, suspended/revoked licenses, fixed object crashes, rollovers, and crashes on curves. Sixty % of fatalities among male drivers ages 21-40 had BACs greater than or equal to .10 % and this group comprised more than half of all high BAC drivers. In contrast, drugs other than alcohol are infrequently found among fatally injured drivers.

Reportable medical conditions and driver risk

Abstract: California law requiring physicians to report to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) cases of a lapse of consciousnes or dementia is described, and the percentage representation of specific conditions reported by physicians, as found in 4 surveys, is presented. Overall the most commonly reported condition is seizure disorder. Data shows that the crash risk of medically impaired drivers is markedly elevated over that of the driving population as a whole, but for most groups not greatly elevated over the risk for males under the age of 25. Literature on the crash risk and driving related performance of patients with epilepsy, diabetes, sleep disorders, or dementia is reviewed, and the California DMV guidelines for dealing with drivers having a seizure disorder or dementia are described.

The effects of blood alcohol concentration on time of death for fatal crash victims

Abstract: Alcohol is associated with increased risk of crash involvement. Recent research indicates that alcohol has a deleterious effect on injury. Alcohol may also affect time of death for fatal crash victims. Data were analyzed from the Fatal Accident Reporting System for years 1982-1988 to investigate the effect of blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels on time to death and mean time to death for fatally injured drivers. The results show that significantly greater proportions of drivers with high (BAC) levels (0.10 g/dl or greater) die within 30 minutes of their crash compared to drivers with 0.00 g/dl and those with 0.01-0.09 g/dl. High BACs appear to increase the probability of a crash and the probability of sustaining fatal injury and rapid death, given a crash has occurred. These findings coupled with other research could have implications for emergency medical services and hospital arrival times and for impaired driving countermeasure evaluations.

A consideration of factors influencing drinking and driving by women

Abstract: There is evidence that a growing proportion of women are changing their drinking and driving behavior. The present paper summarizes the published literature regarding the prevalence of drinking and driving among women and examines information available on changes in women's driving behavior and drinking patterns. It considers the complex set of factors confounding the issue including enforcement bias, increasing driving exposure of women, and the differential effect of alcohol on women. Data are presented which suggest that younger women, particularly those aged 21 to 24, are incrreasing their involvement in alcohol-related driving activity.

Vision and driving: Past limitations and future possibilities

Abstract: Previous attempts to predict driver performance by means of testing have been generally unsuccessful. Possible reasons for this poor relationship are discussed. Alternative procedures and tests, based on an analysis of the visual, perceptual, and attentional demands of driving, are suggested.

Results of analyses for alcohol of near simultaneously collected venous blood and alveolar breath specimens

Abstract: A study was conducted to determine the relationship of venous blood alcohol concentration to alveolar breath alcohol concentrations. Ten volunteers were each administered 3 oral doses of ethanol. Details are described of the study in which breath alcohol samples were analyzed using the Intoxilyzer R 5000. The results of the study (n=40) indicate that there is good correlation (r=0.861) between venous blood alcohol concentration and alveolar breath alcohol concentration. The blood exceeded the breath 95% of the time and the breath exceeded the blood 5% of the time with none of the results being equal. The breath never overestimated the blood results by more than 0.010 g/210L. The mean alveolar breath alcohol concentration was 0.070 g/210L (range 0.048-0.101), and the mean venous blood alcohol concentrtion was 0.080 g/100 ml (range 0.050-0.101).

Diabetes, breath acetone and breathalyzer accuracy: a case study

Abstract: In this case study, blood glucose and breath alcohol were measured and behavioral observations were made of a hypoglycemic 42-year-old male diabetic immediately prior to receiving insulin treatment. The subjects's blood glucose levels ranged from 53 mg/dL to less than 40 mg/dL. Near simultaneous Breathalyzer test results were generally less than 0.01%. The results suggest that although hypoglycemia in diabetics produces behavioral symptoms of gross alcohol intoxication, even extreme physiological changes in blood chemistry do not alter the results of a Breathalzyer test by more than 0.01%.

Synopsis of discussion on research and information needs

Abstract: This synopsis of the International Symposium on Alcohol, Drugs and Transportation held in 1992 in Santa Monica, California, lists the research needs in this area under three categories: epidemiology, experimental research, and evaluation. In epidemiological research, a need was identified for data quality and quantity, a need to extend the study population in such investigations, and to obtain better information regarding patterns of alcohol and drug use. Reasons for alcohol and drug use and shift work, fatigue and substance use are also areas for study. Experimental research needs in the following areas were identified: drug effects on performance; defining performance; individual differences; and the expansion of the research paradigm. The evaluation research needs related to the following: impact of random testing; optimum level of testing; improved efficiency of testing; and impact of educational programs.