Abstract

In two driving simulation experiments, it were investigated to the effects of alcohol and fatigue on divided attention task and driving performance. We examined the effect of alcohol in experiment 1 comparing the measurements of alcohol and non-alcohol group, and the effect of fatigue in experiment 2 comparing the measurements of 4 sections(30 mins per a section). In both experiments, divided attention task and driving simulation experiments were conducted. The performance of divided attention task was measured as visual search task and compensatory tracking task. And the driving performance was measured as response patterns to obstacle stimuli, lateral and longitudinal control of vehicle, and task completion time. The results in alcohol and accumulated fatigue condition showed that (1) the performance of divided attention task was impaired, however there were partial effects in alcohol condition. (2) The reaction time of obstacle stimuli were slowed, and (3) the quality of lateral and longitudinal control of vehicle was degraded. Therefore these results suggest overall performance impairments with alcohol and fatigue in driving.