One Drink may be too Much For Older Drivers: Study

For people who are 55 or older, a single serving may hit them hard enough to make them a dangerous driver, reveal researchers. Sara Jo Nixon, Ph.D., a professor in the departments of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Florida and doctoral candidate Alfredo Sklar tested how drinking legally non-intoxicating levels of alcohol affect the driving skills of two age groups: 36 people ages 25 to 35 and 36 people ages 55 to 70.

They found that although neither age group imbibed enough alcohol to put them over the legal driving limit, a blood alcohol level of 0.08, just one drink can affect the driving abilities of older drivers.

At the beginning of the study, both groups completed a driving task completely sober. The task took the drivers down a simulated winding 3-mile stretch of country road. The drivers stared straight ahead at a large computer monitor. Two computer monitors flanked the first, mimicking the side windows of a car and what the drivers would see in their peripheral vision.

A stereo system played driving sounds. A console included a steering wheel and brake and gas pedals. Occasionally, the drivers would encounter an oncoming car, but they did not encounter other distractions.

On a later day, the groups were further separated into groups. The first imbibed a placebo - a diet lemon-lime soda misted with a negligible amount of alcohol to mimic the experience of drinking alcohol.

A second group's drink was strong enough to produce a 0.04 percent breath alcohol level, and a third group's drink gave them a breath alcohol level of 0.065 percent - still below the federal legal level for drinking of 0.08.

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But for the older drivers, they found, the small, legal levels of intoxication did affect their driving.

The study findings have been published in the journal Psychopharmacology.

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Source-ANI