Abstract
EABLY this year, the Minister of Transport asked the British Medical Association whether it could usefully make any observations on the place of alcohol in the causes of road accidents, in the light of existing knowledge and experience. The Association thereupon appointed a special committee to consider the subject and the report of this committee has just been published (Brit. Med. J., Suppl. July 27, 1935; p. 57). The committee confined itself to an examination of the scientific evidence on the effect of the consumption of alcohol on the functioning of the body, especially of amounts insufficient to produce the state commonly recognised as drunkenness. The Alcohol Committee of the Medical Research Council concluded that the direct effect of alcohol upon the nervous system is, in all stages and upon all parts of the system, to depress or suspend its functions; it is, in short, simply a narcotic drug. The earliest effects are an impairment of the faculties of judgment, concentration, self-criticism and the power of estimating risk, which are often accompanied by a sense of well-being and of self-satisfaction. At the same tune, the power of making movements dependent on rapid and accurate co-ordination is adversely affected; the rapidity and accuracy of neuro-muscular co-ordination are diminished. The report reviews the experimental evidence on which the above statements are based, and points out that as little as three ounces of whisky produces these effects. The experiments were of course made in other connexions to determine the effects of alcohol upon the nervous and neuro-muscular systems; but are applicable to motorists, whose movements are dependent on rapid and accurate co-ordination between the eyes, hands and feet. The committee also emphasises that the elimination of alcohol from the body is a slow process: 10-12 c.c., or the equivalent of one ounce of whisky, can be oxidised each hour, and the rate is not increased when the concentration in the blood is raised by drinking larger quantities. The committee concludes that the olriving capacity of a driver, who has taken even small amounts of alcohol, must frequently be adversely affected, even when it has been consumed some hours before driving, and especially if taken in the absence of food.
Article PDF
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Alcohol and Road Accidents. Nature 136, 173–174 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136173c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136173c0