Objective: The present study examines the accelerating and braking behaviors of drivers at different blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) in heterogeneous driving conditions using driving simulator experiments.
Methods: Eighty-two licensed drivers performed simulated driving in a rural road environment designed in the driving simulator at 4 BAC levels: 0.00, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.08%. Driving performance was analyzed using vehicle control variables such as mean acceleration and mean brake pedal force. Generalized linear mixed models were developed to quantify the effect of different alcohol levels and explanatory variables such as driver’s age, gender, and other factors on the driving performance indicators.
Results: Alcohol use was reported as a significant factor affecting the accelerating and braking performance of drivers. The acceleration model results indicated that drivers’ mean acceleration increased by 0.013, 0.026, and 0.027 m/s2 for BAC levels of 0.03, 0.05, and 0.08%, respectively. Results of the brake pedal force model showed that drivers’ mean brake pedal force increased by 1.09, 1.32, and 1.44 N for BAC levels of 0.03, 0.05, and 0.08%, respectively. Age was a significant factor in both the models where a 1-year increase in driver age resulted in a 0.2% reduction in mean acceleration and a 19% reduction in mean brake pedal force. Driving experience could compensate for the negative effects of alcohol to some extent while driving.
Conclusions: The findings of the present study revealed that drivers tend to be more aggressive and impulsive under the influence of alcohol, which deteriorates their driving performance. Impairment in accelerating and braking behaviors of drivers under the influence of alcohol leads to increased crash probabilities. The conclusions may provide reference in making countermeasures against drinking and driving and contribute to traffic safety. 相似文献
Water is a precious yet non-renewable resource. Yet in Africa, the same water can be a source of life and death. Water is not only the most basic of need but also at the centre of sustainable development and essential for poverty eradication. Water is intimately linked to health, agriculture, energy and biodiversity. Without progress on water, reaching other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be difficult if not impossible. The fight against poverty will remain a pipe dream.A lot of activities have been undertaken with the aim of highlighting the importance of water, linking water with sustainable development and indeed developing strategies for resolving the ever-increasing problems of water. These include the adoption of the Africa Water Vision in The Hague, Netherlands in March, 2000.In order to address the many problems of water in Africa especially related to the coordination of the increasing number of initiatives in the Water sector in Africa, the African Water Task Force (AWTF) was established.As part of developing solutions to the African water crisis, the AWTF held a regional conference in Accra Ghana. Some of the emerging issues from the Accra Conference are highlighted in the Accra declaration.This paper highlights the linkages between water and sustainable development, water and poverty and the many facets that relate to water. It mainly addresses issues of water from the African perspective. A number of key events that have taken place and which have served as a basis for many policy pronouncements have been given.The last section concentrates on what happened to water at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) held in Johannesburg in September 2002. 相似文献
