Effects of alcohol intoxication on simulated driving performance

Traffic crash statistics show that alcohol intoxication is an increasing risk factor for fatal crashes in last decade. To measure the effects of alcohol intoxication on drivers' performance, an experiment was conducted on the Driving Simulator, with 13 participants completing the driving tasks through two selected scenarios. During the experiment, each driver did the tasks four times under four levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), namely 0.00% g/dl, 0.02% g/dl, 0.05% g/dl, and 0.08% g/dl, and the force and displacement of brake and gas pedals as well as the response time of brake events were measured to assess the driver's performance. The research results showed that alcohol intoxication impaired driving performance and it was attributable to some dangerous driving behaviors. This effect was significantly magnified in high BAC levels. Gender and driving experience were found differentiating the effects of alcohol in this experiment.