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Alcohol Notes

Alcohol, DWI, DUI, DramShop

 

PROBABILITY OF CAUSING A MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT

• Allsop (Attach B ref 5 of last report): reported that a BAC of 0.10 % resulted in a 600% increase in motor vehicle accidents over those with 0%BAC and 0.15% increased that probablility by 2500%

• Zador(ref 6) determined that BACs between 0.02 and 0.04% increased the probablity of fatal crash by 40% and BACs between 0.10 and 0.14% increased that probability by 4800%

• CTX-30782

EFFECTS ON DRIVING

• Hunt and Wuitt, 1994(CTX-30793) state that the major effects of alohol are "inappropriate processing of environmental stimuli and degraded motor skills" alcohol degrades the performance of tasks that are related to driving a vehicle, behavioral deficits occur relative to vehicular safety including degredation of psychomotor skills, perception, tracking, information processing and attention.

• Several other studies showing effects of alcohol on ability to operate motor vehicles at BAC levels of below 0.10%(refs 7-11 of report)

• Attwood et al, 1980(CTX-30781) have reported that levels of blood alcohol as low as 0.063% can have an effect on driving ability and these differences in driving performance ability can be discerned between those with BAC 0.033% and 0.079% under controlled experimentation

• Ferrara et al(CTX1773) states "most authors agree that low alcohol levels can cause significant impairment in psychomotor performance, to the extent that driving safety is compromised"

GENERAL EFFECTS

• Effect of alcohol on risk taking, visual signal detection, reaction times and perceptual motor skills as well as behavioral and cognitive parameters have also been studied(refs 12-15 of report)

• BAC levels between 0.1 and 0.20% have been reported to prolong reaction to light and sound stimuli by 10-15%(CTX-30786)

• Davis and Lipson, 1986; (CTX-1778) - reported that BAC levels as low as 0.05% produced loss of inhibitions and BAC level of 0.10% resulted in staggering, drowsines and clumsiness

• Laberg and Loberg in 1989 (CTX-1776) used behavioral techniques to show that a BAC level as low as 0.07% resulted in increased tremor on steadiness tests

LEVEL OF EXPOSURE - LEGISLATION

• Level from 80 to 50mg% in Australia (Brooks, C and Zaal D, 1993as cited in CTX-1773)

• Level from 50 to 20mg% in Sweden(A Aberg, 1993 as cited in CTX-1773)

• In Ontario Canada for the past 10 years, drivers have risked immediate confiscation of their license for 12 hours if their BACs fall between 50 and 80mg% (E Vingilis et al, "The Ontario 12-hour administrative licence suspension law against drinking drivers: the Ontario provincial police assessment of offence and driver's characteristics", J Traffic Med, vol 21, 59-64(1993))

ZERO TOLERANCE LEGISLATION

• Eight states that enacted zero-tolerance laws were compared with nearby states without such laws and zero tolerance states demonstrated a 21% greater decline in the proportion of single vehicle nightime MVAs involving drivers under 21yo, the type of crash most likely to involve alcohol[R Higson, T Heeren and M Winter, "Lower legal blood alcohol limits for young drivers", Public Health Reports, vol 109, 738-744(1994)]

• Interaction between risk taking, inexperience in young drivers and risk taking enhanced by alcohol studied in a case-control study; results clearly indicate that positive BACs in drivers under 21 are associated with higher relative crash risks as would be predicted from the additive effect of BAC and age; young people are predisposed to MVA involvement based on risk taking, and inexperienced coupled with alcohol [RC Peck, et al, "The relationship between blood alcohol concentration(BAC), age and crash risk", J Safety Res, vol 39, no 3, 311-319(2008)

 
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