Centre for Policy on Ageing



The effects of age and alcohol intoxication on simulated driving performance, awareness and self-restraint
Author(s)	Warren C Quillian, Daniel J Cox, Boris P Kovatchev
Journal title	Age and Ageing, vol 28, no 1, January 1999
Pages	pp 59-66
Keywords	Older men ; Middle aged ; Alcoholic beverages ; Driving capability ; Performance ; United States of America.
Annotation	In this US study, 14 healthy middle-aged men (aged 30-50) were compared with 14 healthy older men (aged 60 and over) on an interactive driving simulator, while sober and while legally intoxicated (blood alcohol concentration > 80mg/dl). Older age was associated with poorer driving performance on the simulator. While sober, older men exhibited more improper braking, slower driving, greater speed variability, fewer appropriate full stops and more crashes, and spent more time executing turns across oncoming traffic. However, similar alcohol consumption did not produce higher peak BAC or more driving impairments in older drivers. While there were no differences between the age groups in terms of awareness of intoxication or driving difficulties, older men were unwilling to drive while legally intoxicated, because of fear of physical injury, whereas middle-aged men were more likely to avoid driving when intoxicated due to fear of legal ramifications. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-990427224 A
Classmark	BC: SE: YPP: OPF: 5H: 7T
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.