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Effects
Of Alcohol On Driving
Reaction
After
drinking, the brain works inefficiently, taking longer to
receive messages from the eye; processing information becomes
more difficult and instructions to the muscles are delayed.
Alcohol can slow down reaction time by 10 to 30 per cent.
It also reduces ability to perform two or more tasks at
the same time.
Vision
Alcohol reduces the ability to see distant objects
and night vision can be reduced by 25 per cent. Blurred and
double vision can also occur. Ability to perceive what is
happening at the roadside is weakened. Loss of peripheral
vision could be crucial. Stimulant
Alcohol
may also create a sense of overconfidence, with the result
that people are prepared to take greater risks.
Tolerance
Even
when sober, young drivers and riders are more accident prone
than older, more experienced drivers. Their lower tolerance
to alcohol further increases their accident risk. The vulnerability
of a young person to the effects of alcohol is shown by
the lower average blood alcohol levels of young drink driving
offenders compared with older offenders. The same pattern
is found in drivers who are killed. For young people accident
risk increases after one drink; after two it doubles and
after five it can have increased ten fold.
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