Driver Characteristics and Impairment at Various BACs

Technical Report Documentation Page

1. Report No.	2. Government Accession No.		3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle Driver Characteristics and Impairment at Various BACs			5. Report Date August 2000
			6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s) H. Moskowitz, M. Burns, D. Fiorentino, A. Smiley, P. Zador			8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Adddress Southern California Research Institute 11914 West Washington Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90066			10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)
			11. Contract or Grant No. DTNH-22-95-C-05000
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 400 Seventh Street, S.W. Washington, DC 20590			13. Type of Report and Period Covered
			14. Sponsoring Agency Code
15. Supplementary Notes Paul J. Tremont, Ph.D. was the NHTSA Contracting Officer's Technical Representative for the study.
16. Abstract The purpose of this experiment was to determine a) the magnitude of alcohol impairment of driving skills as BACs varied from zero to 0.10% and b) whether age, gender, and drinking practice characteristics of the subjects would differentially affect alcohol impairment in a sample of subjects who were broadly representative of the driving population. Using a driving simulator and a divided attention task, 168 subjects were examined at BACs to 0.10% for moderate and heavy drinkers and to 0.08% for light drinkers. Alcohol significantly impaired performance on some measures at all examined BACs from 0.02% to 0.10%. The magnitude of the impairment increased with increasing BAC. Differences in the magnitude of alcohol impairment between categories of age, gender, and drinking practices were small, inconsistent in direction, and did not reach statistical significance. It is possible that significant differences would have emerged if a wider range of subject characteristics and BACs had been examined. BACs over 0.10% were not tested, and the sample did not include subjects under 19 years and over 70 years, or very light and very heavy drinkers. Within those limits, no significant differences in the magnitude of alcohol impairment within the categories of age, gender, and drinking practice appeared for this diverse sample.
17. Key Words Age, Alcohol, BAC, Divided Attention, Drinking Practices, Driving, Gender, Impairment, Simulator		18. Distribution Statement This document is available to the U.S. public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia, 22161.
19. Security Classif. (of this report) Unclassified	20. Security Classif. (of this page) Unclassified		21. No. of Pages	22. Price

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