Transportation Systems Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2021;22(5):343-348. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2021.1921169. Epub 2021 May 12.
Alcohol-impairment of drivers has significant influence on road traffic safety; however, no experimental research has been conducted on the lateral driving control of Indian drivers. Therefore, the present study investigates the effects of different Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels (0%, 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08%) and driver attributes on the lane positioning and steering control of Indian drivers.
A driving simulator experiment was designed where 82 adult licensed drivers (62 males, 20 females) completed driving on the simulated urban arterial road environment under the influence of varying BACs. Lateral driving performance measures associated with lane positioning (lane position variability) and steering control of drivers (steering angle variability and steering reversal rates (SRR)) were analyzed.
The findings reported that lane position variability was significantly influenced only at 0.08% BAC (5.8% increment); no significant influence was observed at 0.03% and 0.05% BACs. Compared to 0% BAC, steering angle variability increased by 0.105 degrees or 15.7%, 0.142 degrees or 21.4%, and 0.176 degrees or 25.7% at 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% BACs respectively. No significant differences were observed between the sober-state driving and alcohol-impaired driving at 1 and 5 SRR. However, 10 SRR was found to be higher by 36%, 65% and 92% at 0.03%, 0.05% and 0.08% BACs compared to 0% BAC. Among the driver attributes, male drivers displayed higher impairment in lane positioning behavior as compared to female drivers. One-year increase in drivers' age reduced the lane position variability by 0.6%. Drivers who performed regular physical exercise were found to have better lateral control on the vehicle, as observed in their steering angle variability. Prior crash history had negative association with the steering reversal rates, indicating that drivers who have previous experience of crash involvement show better steering control than the drivers without any crash experience.
In conclusion, the outcomes of this study provide novel insights into the alcohol-impaired lateral vehicle control of Indian drivers which can assist in policy interventions aiming to reduce crashes with alcohol as a major crash causation factor.
驾驶员的酒精摄入会对道路交通安全产生重大影响；然而，目前还没有针对印度驾驶员横向驾驶控制的实验研究。因此，本研究调查了不同血液酒精浓度（BAC）水平（0%、0.03%、0.05%和 0.08%）和驾驶员属性对印度驾驶员车道定位和转向控制的影响。
设计了一项驾驶模拟器实验，82 名成年有证驾驶员（62 名男性，20 名女性）在不同 BAC 水平下完成了模拟城市动脉道路环境的驾驶。分析了与驾驶员车道定位（车道位置变异性）和转向控制（转向角度变异性和转向反转率（SRR））相关的横向驾驶性能指标。
研究结果表明，只有在 0.08%BAC（增加 5.8%）时，车道位置变异性才会受到显著影响；在 0.03%和 0.05%BAC 时，没有观察到显著影响。与 0%BAC 相比，在 0.03%、0.05%和 0.08%BAC 下，转向角度变异性分别增加了 0.105 度或 15.7%、0.142 度或 21.4%和 0.176 度或 25.7%。在 1 和 5 SRR 下，清醒状态驾驶和酒精损害驾驶之间没有观察到显著差异。然而，与 0%BAC 相比，在 0.03%、0.05%和 0.08%BAC 下，10 SRR 分别高出 36%、65%和 92%。在驾驶员属性方面，与女性驾驶员相比，男性驾驶员在车道定位行为方面表现出更高的损伤。驾驶员年龄每增加 1 岁，车道位置变异性就会降低 0.6%。经常进行体育锻炼的驾驶员在车辆横向控制方面表现出更好的控制能力，这体现在他们的转向角度变异性上。事故史与转向反转率呈负相关，这表明有过事故经历的驾驶员比没有事故经历的驾驶员具有更好的转向控制能力。
综上所述，本研究结果为印度驾驶员的酒精损害横向车辆控制提供了新的见解，这有助于针对以酒精为主要事故原因的事故采取政策干预措施。
