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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2022 Dec;239(12):3893-3902.
doi: 10.1007/s00213-022-06260-z. Epub 2022 Nov 2.

Effects of alcohol intoxication on driving performance, confidence in driving ability, and psychomotor function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Harriet Garrisson  1 , Andrew Scholey  2   3 , Joris C Verster  2   4 , Brook Shiferaw  2   5 , Sarah Benson  2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Effects of alcohol intoxication on driving performance, confidence in driving ability, and psychomotor function: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Harriet Garrisson et al. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Rationale: Alcohol-induced driving impairment can occur with any departure from a zero-blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Because intoxication is characterised by impaired judgement, drivers under the influence of alcohol may overestimate their capacity to safely operate a vehicle.

Objectives: This study examined the effects of alcohol on driving performance, four-choice reaction time (FCRT), and self-rated confidence in driving ability. It specifically focused on alcohol doses equal to commonly enforced legal BAC limits (i.e. 0.05% and 0.08%).

Methods: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design was utilised. Seventeen participants were tested in three conditions: placebo and two alcohol conditions aiming for BACs of 0.05% and 0.08%. Participants underwent a baseline FCRT task and a 1-h simulated highway driving task before completing another FCRT task and rated their confidence in their driving ability.

Results: The high and low alcohol dose conditions resulted in a mean BAC of 0.07%, and 0.04%, respectively (n = 17). The high BAC treatment significantly increased standard deviation of lateral position (SDLP) by 4.06 ± 5.21 cm and standard deviation of speed (SDS) by 0.69 ± 0.17 km/h relative to placebo, while confidence in driving ability remained unchanged across treatments. FCRT performance was impaired by the high BAC treatment (all < 0.01), but there we no significant differences between placebo and low BAC conditions.

Conclusions: The findings of this study show that driving performance and associated psychomotor functioning become significantly impaired below legally permissible driving limits in some jurisdictions. We identified a dissociation between driving performance and subjective awareness of impairment. Despite a significantly diminished driving ability at 0.07% BAC, drivers were unaware of their impairment.

Keywords: Alcohol; Driving performance; Psychomotor function; Road safety; Simulator; Subjective awareness.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. This study was approved by Swinburne University Human Research Ethics committee (SUHREC approval number 2014/065) and was conducted in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent to participate was obtained from all participants.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Experimental procedure
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The Forum8 driving simulator and displays
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
FCRT task showing the relative position of stimuli (circles) and response (squares). In the example, the correct response is the top right square
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Mean BACs and standard deviations for low and high BAC groups. The red lines indicate legal driving limits in several jurisdictions (World Health Organization 2018)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Mean SDLP and standard error of the mean in 20-min increments across treatments
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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