Driving Simulator-based Investigations on the Impacts of Various Blood Alcohol Concentration on Driver Behavior

摘要

Drinking and driving is a chronic, severe safety problem in the United States, especially foryoung drivers. A Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) of 0.08 or more has been widely used as ameasurement to identify alcohol-impaired drivers and analyze their behavior by traffic safetyresearchers, practitioners, and enforcement agencies. However, previous studies have indicatedthat drivers can be adversely affected at BACs as low as 0.02, and significant research efforts areneeded to identify specific alcohol impacts on driver behaviors at BACs of less than 0.08. Thisresearch aims to investigate driver behavior and its safety implications with BACs between 0.00and 0.08. As a risk-free, cost-effective means, a driving simulator was used in this study. Sincedrinking and driving is a significant concern for young drivers, licensed drivers between the agesof 21 and 25 were used in the study. Drivers were asked to consume low levels of alcohol anddrive through a course in the driving simulator at various BACs. The research results indicatethat young drivers are prone to risky behaviors, especially speeding, at low levels of alcoholimpairment. They tend to focus on objects to their right, increasing the possibility of head oncollisions. The research findings identify significant factors to distinguish alcohol-impaireddrivers at low levels of alcohol intoxication and enhance our current understanding of driverimpairment cues at low BAC levels. As more states lower their BAC limit for underage drinkingdrivers, the research methodology and results are of practical importance and can be generalizedto detect drivers impaired at low alcohol levels.