In Austria, the legal requirements for assessing the driver's fitness to drive are set out in Road Traffic Regulations [13], including guidelines for testing in the event of suspicion, that a driver is under the influence of alcohol and/or narcotics. When assessing fitness to drive, the results of the medical examination remain authoritative, implying a possible inaccurateness of the interpretation of the adjudged findings. This is due to unstandardized testing procedures like, for example, the torch test or neurological tests, and to the inhomogeneity of the experience of the examiners involved. With regard on the complex assessment of vehicle drivers, in particular due to the fact that for the most part only subjective test methods are used to evaluate an individual's impairment of the central nervous system (CNS), objective measurement methods are required. Fig. 1 8 Compact Integrated Pupillograph (CIP, AMTech/Dossenheim, Germany), the standard height adjustable desk-top device and CIP monitor display 1 Rechtsmedizin Originalien Results Chemical toxicological resultsAll the blood samples from the control group were negative, i.e., no substances that affect the CNS were detectable.A total of 74 blood samples were assessed from the substitution group. In approx. 96 % of the blood samples, substances that affect the CNS were detected, which were assigned to five substance classes. An overview of the toxicological results with logarithmic illustration of the concentrations found is given in . Fig. 3. Pupillographic resultsAll examined parameters showed significant differences between the drug substitution group and the control group, as shown in . Fig. 4 and in . Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4.
In order to evaluate driving abilities of each traffic participant, standardised and objective measurement methods are needed. The applicability and value of infrared pupillography as an objective measurement method to indicate possible influence of central nervous acting substances has been demonstrated in former publications. Healthy test subjects (n = 41), as well as persons who were under the influence of drugs and/or medication (n = 105), were exposed to different light stimuli using infrared technology in order to demonstrate the relevance of specific parameters of the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in the field of traffic medicine. Based on former reported results, the statistical examination was extended to further parameters of the PLR, which again confirmed the high value of infrared pupillography as a reliable indicator of previous consumption of drugs and/or medication.
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