The effects of clobazam and lorazepam on aspects of psychomotor performance and car handling ability.

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Abstract
1 Laboratory tests of psychomotor performance and ‘on road’ assessments of car handling ability were made following repeated doses of clobazam 10 mg three times daily, lorazepam 1 mg three times daily and matching placebo 1 capsule three times daily. 2 Both active compounds produced on impairment, compared to placebo, in some mental arithmetic and letter cancellation tasks, but these effects were neither widespread nor consistent. 3 Lorazepam produced a significant impairment of car driving tasks and analogue rating scales of subjective alertness. The pronounced sedative activity of the drug was also shown in the verbal reports of side effects and in indices of early morning sedation derived from the Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire. 4 Clobazam did not produce either the objective, or the subjective impairment of performance and alertness found with lorazepam. 5 The results taken as a whole show important differences between the 1,4 benzodiazepine, lorazepam, and the 1,5 benzodiazepine, clobazam, in their effects on the integrity of psychomotor performance related to car driving ability.