Driving and Drugs
“Drunken driving is down. But what about drug use by drivers?” This was the headline in a recent article in The Christian Science Monitor.
The article was punctuated with the fact that Americans seem to have finally gotten the message: It’s not OK to drive while drunk. But driving on drugs appears to be another matter and a significant problem.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) has released the results of its 2007 Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use. It found that the share of Americans driving while intoxicated on weekend nights is at a low of 2.2 percent, down 71 percent from the mid-1970s.
Now there are new statistics that indicate that the drop in DUI from alcohol has been more than offset by an increase in driving under the influence of drugs. The survey indicated that roughly one in six drivers on weekend nights is on drugs, These drivers had significant traces of drugs in their system, including marijuana, cocaine, and various stimulants and over-the-counter and prescription drugs.
“Even though the alcohol numbers are the good news, we’re still seeing over 10,000 fatalities a year involving a legally impaired driver or motorcyclist. So we still have work to do,” says Rae Tyson, an NHTSA spokesman. “On drugs, the numbers are fairly high and representative of drug use in society, but what it says about the impairment of the person behind the wheel remains to be seen.”
“We know what that threshold is for alcohol, and states have universally set 0.08 blood alcohol content as the limit,” Mr. Tyson says. “We still have a lot of research to do and a lot to learn in terms of what impact drugs have on your system and at what point a driver is too impaired by drugs to be behind the wheel.”
“This troubling data shows us, for the first time, the scope of drugged driving in America and reinforces the need to reduce drug abuse,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
This is a growing concern for like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which has been working to get intoxicated drivers off the roads and to educate young people since 1980. J.T. Griffin, vice president for public policy for MADD, says that organization does have “major concerns” about the number of people driving under the influence of drugs, but the group will keep its focus on drunken driving.
“For a lot of these folks, the drugs and alcohol use go together. So if you can still focus on the alcohol piece, in a lot of cases you’ll catch the drug-impaired drivers as well,” says Griffin.
Perhaps soon, both acronyms. DUI and MADD, will have to encompass new meanings, hopefully based on needed new, enforceable standards for drug use while driving.
