ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses experimental and epidemiological studies published before 1998 for the following drug groups: benzodiazepines and related drugs, cannabis, opioids, amphetamine and related drugs, antihistamines, and antidepressants. It reviews experimental studies on the acute effect of drugs on psychomotor and cognitive performance as well as actual and simulated driving performance published after 1998. Experimental studies are most commonly performed for medicinal drugs using healthy individuals taking relatively small drug doses and can be used to determine whether a drug may impair several driving-related functions. In a driving simulator, the subjects perform a computer simulation of a driving task. Tests in a driving simulator are used to evaluate driving performance. In general, an increased impairment of psychomotor and other driving skills has been observed when alcohol was administered to subjects who already had consumed benzodiazepines, especially during the first days to weeks of treatment with these drugs.
