The amount of alcohol taken in by an individual has a direct impact on the how they feel while driving. This is true also in respect of drugs whether prescriptive, legal or illegal. A study was conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States, into the effects of blood alcohol concentration and the resulting impairment to a driver. The research yielded interesting results as shown below: 

- Divided attention – divided attention means or involves having to concentrate on two or more things or tasks at the same time and making a decision about them. This includes giving attention to tasks happening in front of you, in your peripheral vision or even information you are listening to. However, when a driver is impaired as a result of alcohol they become sensitive to the ability to divide their attention between tasks. The research showed that even at a low BAC level of 0.005 a driver can fail to divide his or her attention as when sober and if something unexpected happens in the driving environment, like a pedestrian steps into the road, it would be difficult for the driver to shift his or her attention even at low BAC levels.

- Perception – perception is the cognitive skill relating to the ability to process and make sense of information presented to us whether through vision, hearing or touch. Perception also entails the ability to recognize potential traffic hazards or threats and their relationship to the task of driving and safety; it also entails the ability to estimate time and distances. For example, while driving on a local street if a ball crosses the road ahead, while the ball in itself is not a threat or hazard – children are associated with balls and toys, so the driver becomes alert for a child following the ball into the road. As a result of this anticipation the driver perceives the danger and slows down whether the hazard occurs or not – this is the ability of perception. The research revealed that impairment at BAC levels as low as 0.04 would affect a driver’s perceptive powers to perceive a threat or hazard and react in accordance to such a perception.

- Vision – these entail visual functions of the ability to see and note the fine details in objects. This can relate, for example, to when a driver is driving at night; when he or she sees the tail and brake lights of another car ahead of his or her own and the headlights of a car coming toward his or her own car. The size and brightness of the lights allows a driver to gauge the distance and speed of the car whether it is approaching or ahead of the driver. This requires that the driver shifts his or her focus of the eyes to be able to take note of this. Visual functions start being impaired from as low a BAC level as 0.03.

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