Alcohol Reaction Nhtsa Traffic Safety

Alcohol Reaction

NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gathers and disseminates information regarding the safety of America's highways on an annual basis and oftentimes releases Research Notes assisting in that endeavor. The DOT HS 811-016 Research Note released in August, 2008 is one such presentation.

As might be expected, this release contains a number of charts specifically dealing with the demographics of driver impaired accidents and fatalities. In regards to my particular proposed subject, it is extremely helpful in that it establishes a baseline for comparison that will allow my research to have some verifiability. The note contains charts on such items as; Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per million, Drivers involved in fatal crashes and number and percentage who had blood alcohol content =.08+ by vehicle type and other related items and charts all dealing with the demographics of blood alcohol content as pertaining to accidents by demographics. The research even contains demographics broken down state by state.

BMJ Alcohol in the Body

This article can be summarized as providing medical information concerning the effects of alcohol on the human body written in terms that even a layman can understand. The article explains how a human body absorbs alcohol and the effects of that alcohol on various parts of the body.

This information is categorically broken down to provide an understanding of why certain individuals are affected in more adverse manners than other individuals when consuming approximately the same amount of alcohol. The article is especially useful in providing data concerning comparisons between heavy and light drinkers, as well as between men and women drinkers. The article also provides pertinent information of the affects of time, food levels and interactions between alcohol and other medicines.

Subject Study

This study can be used to demonstrate the veracity of the thesis. The study was completed using 20 subjects who were asked not to ingest alcohol two days prior and not to eat food 6 hours prior. The study found that reaction times for complex tasks were impaired after ingesting alcohol. It also found that reaction times for simple tasks were not significantly affected. This particular study will provide evidence that the thesis is a viable one.

Simple vs. Sophisticated Models

This particular article reads like a scientist's dream and a layman's nightmare. It provides scientific measurements for determining the amount of blood alcohol levels in the human body. The article even provides specific reasons for 'analytical and biological issues' for breath alcohol analysis. Those reasons include such items as radio frequency interference, mouth alcohol bias, abnormal pre-exhalation breathing patterns and interfering substances.

The primary purpose for including this as part of my thesis is that it does provide scientific parameters to what I am attempting to verify.

It does not matter to me that the article asks, "what is breath?" But it does matter to me that I can answer that question in a scientific manner in defending my study.

Reaction Time Literature Review

The Reaction Time review provides excellent data and definitions on how to test and verify reaction times, whether those times are simple or complex. Especially helpful is the information contained within the article on how that testing and verification has been employed in past studies.

The article provides a baseline in a number of areas that will correspond with my study. The review shows how a mean reaction time is compiled, how simple and complex reaction times vary, and the many different variables affecting how individual's reaction times are hindered. The article also addresses the difference between a small amount of stimuli and a large amount of stimuli in regards to reaction times as well as the intensity of such stimuli and the duration the of the stimuli that the experiment is subjected to. The article will be especially helpful in assisting the design of my study in a verifiable manner.

Rapid Communication

This article provides data that will assist in a comparison of the effects of alcohol (in beer) as compared to the effects of alcohol in degassed champagne. The article documents a study of 12 subjects who were each given doses of regular champagne and degassed champagne.

The study concluded that there were significant differences in the Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of the degassed and the regular champagne. These results will be of importance in the proposed study because they will provide further baseline information to compare the results. The data from this study is also important because it suggests that the high CO2 content of champagne may increase the rate of absorption. If these results are valid then it will be important to keep them in mind when asking the subjects of the proposed study to ingest alcohol, realizing that certain drinks are absorbed in different manners.

Alcohol Impairs Speed

The response rate to simple stimuli can be impaired by the administration of alcohol as discovered in previous studies and the proposed study seeks to verify the difference between that impairment in regards to simple and complex events. This particular article documents the results of that impairment concerning the early stages of information processing. The results of this study as documented by the article are of importance to the proposed study because the response in the early stages might differ from the results in the late stages of information processing. It is important therefore to recognize (in the proposed study) whether the response to simple or complex stimuli is in what stage of processing? The article documents total information processing and how it works, as well as how it becomes impaired due to the effects of administering alcohol to the subjects.

Surveillance Report

The proposed study is seeking to establish whether there is a difference in response times to complex and simple stimuli after the introduction of alcohol to the subject(s) and at what levels these effects take place. The Surveillance Report helps to document why this study should be undertaken. It provides data on the number one cause of death for most people between the ages of 1-44 (in the United States) is accidents. The report states that overall 40% of the deaths were due to motor vehicle accidents and that a large percentage of those accidents were due to alcohol impairment of the driver. According to the report the average life expectancy for a U.S. citizen is now 75 years of age, and the report used that age to determine years of potential life lost (YPLL). Since the proposed study will attempt to provide data to help lower the YPLL, the report can easily be included in the literature review of the study.