Alcohol + Driving + Simulation

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What's the significance of alcohol + driving + simulation? Namely this: state-of-the-art driving simulators provide life-like driving experiences while reproducing the outside driving conditions and duplicating the operation of a vehicle in unusual situations (such as "driving under the influence" of alcohol or drugs).

Without these driving simulators, it would be extremely difficult to discover accurate and relavant information about driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The Beneficial Aspects of Driving Simulators

image: picture of wine Driving simulators create an opportunity to train and evaluate existing or new drivers as they complete a wide variety of multifaceted simulated exercises and activities.

For instance, highly realistic "scenes" can be part of the process so that drivers can be feel part of the total driving experience.

Not only this, but top-flight driving simulators can provide information about driving while the person is "under the influence of alcohol" without actually using real alcohol.

In a word, the incorporation of quality visual and audio systems help make the driving experience as realistic as possible.

In addition, the better driving simulators can be programmed to move in such a manner that they replicate driving tasks such as braking, acceleration, driving up inclines or down declines, and driving under various loads.

The Simulation of Weather Effects

Simulated scenes can produce varying weather effects such as sun, fog, rain, or snow with the click of a button and can repeatedly produce occurrences such as a tire blow-out. Current simulation experts are working on replicating the following driving situations:

A person driving after consuming alcohol
The results of driving while on a cell phone or under the influence of recreational or prescription drugs

Fairly recently, a simulation manufacturer developed an "impaired driving simulator" for the DUI Task Force of the Tucson Arizona Police Department.

This "drunk-driving simulator" has a custom interface that will let the user choose the desired level of impairment. In this scenario, the blood alcohol concentration level that is chosen will be displayed to the driver and a driving exercise will start.

More than 2 million Americans suffer from alcohol-related liver disease. Some drinkers, moreover, develop alcoholic hepatitis (that is, an inflammation of the liver) as a result of long-term heavy drinking.

The driving simulator can be calibrated to replicate the effects of driving while impaired. This can be done, for instance, by increasing the time delays between steering input and vehicle response and also narrowing the driving scene to mirror the "tunnel vision" typically experienced by highly impaired drivers.

Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is one of the most common known causes of infant mental retardation, and is the only cause of this deformity that is preventable. Babies with classic FAS are born abnormally small and typically do not manifest normal growth as they get older. Babies with FAS may be born with small eyes, small flat cheeks, or a short or upturned nose. Moreover, the organs, especially the heart, of the babies with FAS may not develop properly.

Other Driving Simulation Research

Even though alcohol consumption and sleepiness are separate causes for motor vehicle crashes, research findings reveal verification of an overlap. For instance, one study found that drivers had consumed some alcohol in nearly 20% of all sleepiness-related, single-vehicle accidents.

In another study, more than 33%& of New York State drivers surveyed in drowsy-driving accidents revealed that they had consumed some alcohol. And according to New York state police reports, fall-asleep accidents with alcohol involvement occurred more frequently than other types of accidents.

Lab experiments actually predict and explain these patterns. For example, numerous researchers have demonstrated that alcohol ingestion and sleepiness interact, with sleep deprivation intensifying the sedating properties of alcohol.

In addition, the combination of both factors negatively affect psychomotor skills more than alcohol consumption or sleepiness alone.

In the fourth and final stage of alcohol addiction, having an easily accessible supply of alcohol close at hand (to avoid "the shakes") becomes one of, if not the most important, things in the life of the alcoholic. During this stage, alcoholics will do virtually anything to get the alcohol they require. Once the alcohol is secured, alcoholics will usually hide their bottles so that they can get a drink whenever they need it, which typically means any hour of the day or the night.

Driving simulation tests, moreover, demonstrate the relationship between sleepiness and alcohol ingestion even with low alcohol consumption, low blood alcohol content (BAC) levels, and slight reductions in sleep.

One driving simulation study revealed that BAC levels less than the legal driving limit resulted in more subjects driving off the road after 4 hours of sleep compared with 8 hours of sleep.

The following represents some of the classic alcoholic behaviors in the fourth and final stage of alcoholism: benders (lengthy intoxications), the possibility of alcoholic psychosis, obsession with drinking, persistent remorse, "the shakes," nameless fears and anxieties such as feelings of impending doom or destruction, the "DTs," impaired thinking, devaluation of personal relationships, unreasonable resentments and hostility toward others, auditory and visual hallucinations, the collapse of the alibi system, the realization of being out of control, moral deterioration, and continual loss of control.

Alcohol + Driving + Simulation: Conclusion

Based on the above discussion of driving simulators, it appears that alcohol + driving + simulation equals a realistic form of training and experimentation that can provide a wealth of information that would be almost impossible to capture in live driving situations.

In conclusion, alcohol + driving + simulation = a safe an effective way to measure driving situations (such as driving while impaired or driving "under the influence" of alcohol or drugs) that are difficult, if not impossible to calculate in real life driving conditions.

Recently in some states, another type of "driving under the influence" has been identified, namely, driving under the combined influence of alcohol and other drugs. Interestingly, the drugs contributing to the impaired condition do not need to be illegal. That is, these "other drugs" can be legal prescriptions or even over-the-counter remedies and treatments.

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Depression and alcoholism have a high comorbidity — in other words, they occur in the same people at a rate higher than they would occur if both disorders were not linked. The link could be genetic, social, psychological, biological, or most likely a combination of many of these factors. The population in industrialized countries is becoming older; therefore depression and alcohol misuse will become a serious problem to our society.

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