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Effects of Psychoactive Chemicals on Commercial Driver Health and Performance: Stimulants, Hypnotics, Nutritional, and Other Supplements (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 6-11

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From page 6...
... , as did the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA 2005)
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From page 7...
... CHEMICAL SUBSTANCE EFFECTS AND DRIVING PERFORMANCE The second issue of importance for this synthesis is to present research findings about chemicals such that the results cited relate to commercial driver performance and health. Relating many of the published drug performance effects from laboratory studies to the performance of commercial drivers in on-the-road scenarios can be tenuous.
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From page 8...
... Obtaining and interpreting research quality measures of driving performance is not simple. From these descriptions it can be understood that determining that drugs in a laboratory experiment affect cognitive performance on generic psychological tasks is not always readily transferable to real-world roadway experiences.
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From page 9...
... . Most likely because they are usually prescribed by a medical practitioner, not subject to high abuse potential, and not commonly used for "recreational purposes," tests for these drugs, and many others, are rarely performed on impaired ground vehicle drivers (whether commercial drivers or not)
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From page 10...
... This is so largely because: • Predictable processing of alcohol (ethanol) in the body is well-understood; • The effects of alcohol on so many forms of performance have been thoroughly studied and described; and 10 • Many individuals have experienced alcohol-impaired performance (even while driving)
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From page 11...
... concluded that because alcohol sensitivity can vary from time to time, person to person, and situation to situation, the setting of a "safe" BAC will always be arbitrary, being based on low, but non-zero incidence of effects below that level. Unlike establishing the relationship of alcohol to performance, the case for determining similar links of the presence of other drugs to that of cognitive performance (enhancements or decrements)
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Key Terms

  • cognitive performance
  • safety administration
  • impaired performance
  • sleep loss
  • commercial drivers

  • commercial truck
  • actual driving
  • body fluids
  • driving performance
  • central nervous

  • abuse potential
  • medical examiners
  • cns depressants
  • national highway
  • medical institute

  • traffic safety
  • psychomotor performance
  • motor vehicle
  • anabolic steroids
  • drug abuse

  • motor skills
  • task performance
  • illicit drugs


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