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Study Shows More Drugged Than Drunk Drivers For The First Time

(WWJ)  We've all heard the messages about the dangers of drunken driving, but a new study is sounding a warning about the dangers of drug impaired driving.

"Drug impaired driving is increasing," said Jim Hedlund a private consultant from Ithaca, N.Y. who conducted the study for the Governors Highway Safety Association. "We have new data that show drugs are more prevalent to drivers than alcohol is for the first time."

The message coming out about the nationwide study is that anti-drugged driving efforts require the same attention that drunk driving had 40 years ago.

And here's the rub: Drugged driving, whether the motorist is high on marijuana or opiods, is difficult to confirm because there are no roadside tests as there is for drunk driving detection.

"Alcohol is really simple because there is an objective test that shows a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 … is too high to drive," Hedlund told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. "The relationship between alcohol and crash risk has been known for 40 years."

"There is no similar test for drugs that says how much is too much and there probably never will be" because drugs have varying effects on users.

The latest study shows 43 percent of drivers who died in crashes in 2016 and had their blood tested had drugs in their system.

"If you are using a substance that might impair you, you shouldn't drive," Hedlund said.

The numbers keep growing: Crashes involving drugs went from 1,581 in 2006 to 2,215 in 2015, a 40 percent increase, according to MLive. There were 18,493 crashes involving drugs from 2006 to 2015, according to traffic crash reports provided by the Michigan State Police.

 

 

 

 

 

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