[Alcohol and car driving].

Alcohol intoxication during car driving represents a well-recognized danger and is responsible for numerous accidents leading to premature death or infirmities. The objectives of this article are to describe some epidemiological data about driving under alcohol influence and associated car accidents, to remind which alcohol blood concentrations are acceptable from a legal point of view, to analyse the acute effects of alcohol on cortical function that could alter driving capacities and, finally, to consider some conditions that may reduce or increase the effects of alcohol on the performances during car driving. Keywords : Alcohol - Car accident - Driving - Brain.