A study conducted on California roads found that more people are driving under the influence of drugs than under the influence of alcohol.
The California Office of Traffic Safety conducted the survey by analyzing 1,300 saliva samples of people who were pulled over during a two-day period between the hours of 10pm and 3am. The samples were collected during traffic stops on a Friday and Saturday night, a peak period for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Researchers found that 14% of the samples tested positive for marijuana, illegal narcotics, and over-the-counter drugs that are known to negatively affect driving abilities. Only 7.4 percent of the samples tested positive for alcohol.
Marijuana was the most commonly detected drug during the study. In order to provide accurate results, researchers used a test to determine if marijuana was consumed in the past few hours. Researchers have the ability to perform more thorough tests that can determine if cannabis has been consumed in the past month, but that would not have been useful for this study.
Drugged driving carries serious penalties, and although you are much less likely to get in an accident if you drive sober, another study found that drunk driving is much more dangerous than driving under the influence of marijuana.
Researchers at the University of Colorado and Montana State University examined traffic fatalities in 13 states that enacted medical marijuana laws between 1990 and 2009. On average, they found that those states saw a 9 percent decline in traffic fatalities after medical marijuana became legal.
Although there may be a variety of factors that led to the decline in traffic deaths, from better safety technology to stricter seat belt laws, marijuana consumption could be a very influential reason, said Daniel Reiss, an economist at the University of Colorado.
“What’s going on is that young adults– especially males– were drinking less when medical marijuana became legal,” Rees said, highlighting data from the Beer Institute that showed a decline in alcohol sales in states with new medical marijuana laws. “You legalize medical marijuana and the highways become safer.”
Researchers hope to conduct future studies to provide a better explanation, but they have two theories as to the role marijuana has played in traffic-related incidents. The first hypothesis is that marijuana affects the brain in a way that makes people drive more cautiously than they would under the influence of alcohol. Rees said drunk drivers often drive at a higher speed and don’t realize how impaired they are, while drivers who have consumer marijuana tend to drive slower and take less risks. As the saying goes, drunk drivers run stop signs while high drivers wait for them to turn green.
Their other theory is that people who smoke marijuana tend to stay at their house, while people who drink alcohol at a bar or a friend’s house are tasked with finding a way home. They believe people who smoke marijuana are content to stay at their house, which makes for safer roads.
Although it may be safer to drive under the influence of marijuana than alcohol, sober driving is by far the safest. People do not take as many risks when they are sober, and their reaction times are better than drugged or drunk drivers. If you plan to consume alcohol or drugs, please plan for a safe ride if you decide to travel.
Related sources: ABC.com, Huffington Post
