In a study of effects of alcohol on driving ability, the control group should be given

The consumption of alcohol has a tremendous impact on road safety because it impairs the ability of drivers to maintain control over their vehicles (Du et al., 2016). A more pronounced weaving movement of the vehicle trajectory in the lane (Helland et al., 2013; van Dijken et al., 2020), and a deterioration in speed and speed variation control is documented in literature (Rezaee-Zavareh et al., 2017; Yadav and Velaga, 2019). Poor driving performances are the consequence of difficulties in negotiating road geometrics vis-à-vis actions performed on pedals and the steering wheel (Fillmore et al., 2008). These difficulties are due to the challenge of coordinating the part of the brain controlling eye activity with that coordinating the physical actions performed on steering wheel and pedals (Marple-Horvat et al., 2008). Finally, alcohol impairments are significantly dose-dependent, i.e. the higher the BAC, the poorer the driving performance (Calhoun et al., 2004).

Another relevant aspect is the inclination to drink alcohol. In particular, younger drivers accept more risks because they are strongly attracted by the pleasant state of euphoria and inebriation quickly reached with alcohol (Pluddemann et al., 1999), and perceived invulnerability (Potard et al., 2018). Ferrero et al. (2019) observed that different alcoholic beverages with the same alcohol content consumed in the same quantities produce different BAC and neurotoxicity levels in young individuals. Natural wine (Galati et al., 2019), which is produced without pesticides, chemicals or other additives by adopting traditional organic farming techniques, is metabolized differently from conventional wine due to their different compositions and characteristics (Pagliarini et al., 2013). Dealcoholized wine was introduced into the market to contrast and reduce the incidence of drink driving, and to promote a healthier diet and lifestyle (Bucher et al., 2018). The consumption of a moderate quantity of good wine is the premise for a responsible attitude to the consumption of alcohol before driving (Room, 2011; Dasgupta, 2011), especially for young drivers.

Notwithstanding major communication campaigns aimed at promoting a responsible and informed approach to the consumption of wine (Artero et al., 2015; Beccaria and Rolando, 2016), there remains the need to assess the effects of a moderate consumption of different wines on the driving performances of young adults. To fill this knowledge gap, this study investigates the effects of the consumption of the three main types of wine (conventional, natural, and dealcoholized) on the driving performance of young adults. Recently, Ferrero et al. (2019) have demonstrated that, under the same quantity and intake conditions, the pharmacokinetic and metabolic effects produced by natural wine are superior to those produced by conventional wine.

This manuscript presents the results of a simplified single-blind and placebo-controlled experiment aimed at evaluating the modification in the driving behaviour of young drivers (< 30 years old) after a legal level of consumption of natural, conventional and dealcoholized wines, with a total of four different treatments including the control group (no drink). The experimental hypotheses are two: (1) the consumption of a quantity of wine not exceeding the legal drink-driving limit does not alter the performance of young drivers in ordinary and unusual (i.e., unexpected) road events; (2) different wine types with the same legal BAC level are expected to produce the same impairments in young drivers.

Test drivers and experimental protocol

Forty-four young, licensed volunteers aged between 20 and 28 were randomized and stratified into four groups (Table 1) on the basis of gender, body mass index (BMI), and use of glasses. The drivers were all students, involved voluntarily in accordance with the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association as described in the Declaration of Helsinki (World Medical Association, 2018). They were recruited from a sample of more than 400 students who responded positively to the invitation. No one

BAC levels

Twenty minutes after being administered, the natural wine resulted in BAC levels in a slightly wider interval (MA =0.047 g/dl, SDA =0.018 g/dl) than the conventional one (MB = 0.049 g/dl, SDB = 0.011 g/dl), although the similarities between the two wines and the dosage dispensed was a function of the BMI value (Widmark, 1981). However, the BAC of Group A drivers remained practically unchanged after the driving test (MA = 0.047 g/dl, SDA = 0.015 g/dl), while in the case of Group B a slight

Conclusions

In this study, two hypotheses were tested and both were only partially confirmed.

Regarding hypothesis (1), differences between groups in terms of longitudinal (speed) and transversal (SDLP) behaviours under ordinary road conditions along curves and straights were statistically not significant. Hence, the performances of drivers who operate under the legal BAC limit were similar to those of the drivers treated with the dealcoholized wine (placebo-controlled Group C) as well as the control Group

Role of funding source

This research did not receive any funds from public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Author contributions

The authors confirm contributions to the paper as follows: (i) study conception and design: M. Bassani, P. Passalacqua, L. Catani; (ii) data collection: P. Passalacqua, L. Catani, G. Bruno; (iii) analysis and interpretation of results: M. Bassani, P. Passalacqua, L. Catani, G. Bruno, A. Spoto; (iv) draft manuscript preparation: M. Bassani, L. Catani, G. Bruno, A. Spoto.

All authors reviewed the results and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors report no declarations of interest.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to: (i) dr. Federico Francesco Ferrero and his staff for their support with the organization of the experiments; (ii) prof. Andrea Pezzana for the valuable advice received for the design of the experiment, and (ii) prof. Alberto Godio and prof. Rajandrea Sethi and the staff of the DIATI department of the Politecnico di Torino who recruited all the young drivers involved and supported the study.

This work was carried out within the ambit of the "use-inspired basic research", project

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