The Effects of Rumble Strips on Performance of Sober and Alcohol-Dosed Subject Drivers

Accident studies have identified nighttime conditions on rural roads as particular problems for alcohol-impaired drivers. Uneventful driving is hypothesized to result in progressive degradation of tracking performance and a reduced ability to handle the demands of hazardous locations, such as curves. To address these problems, a simulated rumble strip was evaluated experimentally. Six subjects drove an instrumented vehicle over a closed course under two conditions (presence versus absence of rumble strips) and three levels of BAC (0.00, 0.07, 0.12%). The effects of the rumble strips were evaluated from both road-departure characteristics (lane departure and accident frequency, maximum distance off the road, mean time off the road per departure, time between successive departures) and overall driving performance (means and standard deviations of velocity and lateral position). Rumble-strip presence was associated with increased time between successive left-side departures, increased mean velocity, and reduced speed variability. There were no significant differences between rumble-strip presence and absence for right-side departures.