As Canada embraces national legalization of marijuana, findings in the United States may urge elected officials to regulate the drug more diligently. According to two new studies, states, where pot is entirely legal, saw a spike in car crashes.
While crash fatalities didn’t increase, car wrecks did. The first study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found crashes increased 6 percent in Washington, Oregon and Colorado when compared to neighboring states without legal recreational marijuana. The study also aimed to account for other variables such as weather, age, location and job status. Even when taking the other factors into account, crash rates were higher.
A second study from the IIHS looked at crashes before and after weed became legal in western states. The findings showed a 5.2 percent increase in crashes the three states.
Although eight states in the U.S. have legalized recreational pot, it remains illegal to drive under the influence of any substance. However, the U.S. does not have a standardized test to check for drivers under the influence of marijuana like alcohol. Most drivers showed more weaving, slowed perceptional and thinking skills in simulators when driving under the influence of pot.
An October survey found 6 in 10 Americans support legalizing weed, which means states will likely continue to deal with more impaired drivers until police departments and the public are equipped with better tools to recognize how high is too high.
Comments
Let’s do a real important study and look at the impact of texting, emailing, and yaking on phones on accidents and deaths!
Yeah, and texting, emailing, and talking on your phone, and drunk driving doesn’t cause near the accidents, and plus, those are unavoidable. Riiightt…
No one is arguing that using a cell phone while driving is okay. That’s common knowledge. This is about whether or not easy access to marijuana could be causing more traffic accidents.
When I was a kid I had this girlfriend who was very tight with her older sister. This sister was bored out of her skull in our small town and was never far from getting stoned.
We went on a trip to NYC where this older sister drove the entire way. Her car, her rules. She got bored twice and lit up. While driving. I was still young enough to not be experienced, but knowing how glazed her eyes would get and doofie her personality, I asked, “Hey, wait, should one of us drive?” Big smile from bloodshot eyes, “No, I’m cool. Don’t sweat it.”
Three years later I was my first joint. (It was my 3rd but the first one that worked properly.) Anyway — I was a mess. I could bare stand or see straight. When the fog cleared —
— I considered getting in my car, driving over to her house, and beating the shit out of her.
Where in this story does it say that actual crashes were caused by marijuana use? This proves nothing.
+10 my thoughts exactly. I read it as a sad and loose attempt to try and connect the marijuana use with increased auto accidents. Never once did it mention that any kind of testing was done on the subjects involved in the accidents to determine and verify that they were driving under the influence. Too many other variables to consider before jumping to such a conclusion.
Does not matter what it is. Drugs, alcohol or distraction people need to be held accountable for their actions.
Driving impaired and either injuring someone or killing them is inexcusable. It is selfish, ignorant and criminal.
I was nearly killed by one of these drivers and I was lucky to walk away.
It is a shame people are so screwed up they have to be screwed up to deal with life at the cost of others.
I agree, sir. Driving impaired, no matter how the impairment was arrived-at, should get a punishment.
Is everybody prepared to agree? Impairment = no driving, correct? Yes, or, no.
Now, study the effects of coffee. In particular, study the effect of coffee-addicts who have not had their morning joe before they drive their 3-ton SUV to the drive-through coffee pusher. Folks should actually read the studies by Johns Hopkins and Oxford. Coffee-addicted folks who drive in the morning without their drug abused up to their eyeballs are proven dangerous drivers – around 20% of all accidents, and over 50% of accidents in the weekday 5:00am-9:00am period, are from coffee-addicts who haven’t had their fix yet.
If you want to drive safe, make your morning joe AT HOME, before you drive please!
Sean –
Not a defender…
Just curious if you can actually attribute the photo used to depict the dangers of driving while high to an actual, cannibus-related incident.
Or, if it was a DUI, or texting, icy road, or just a stock ‘car crash’ shot.
Weed use will be a problem for law enforcement – stays is your system for 72 hrs or something.
Does it matter?
Driving impaired is wrong no matter the choice of impairment. The photo can represent any of them easily.
Exactly, if your dead or maimed makes no difference to the victim! All three are wrong!
Well duh! In other news the sun is hot and the sky is blue……. ?
This can’t be a surprise to anyone.. especially when it’s considered as no different than drinking as I’ve seen construction workers smoke pot during their lunch hour because by law it’s no different than having a beer which means even they get caught it’s no worst than drinking on the job and some states are deleting all arrest an individual may have that is pot related from their criminal history.