When it comes to impaired driving, how are we doing? Since the 1970’s, the message has consistently been, “If you drink, don’t drive,” and “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” The laws have become stricter, the penalties have become steeper. But has it worked?
A few years ago I could have confidently answered yes, or at least had an optimistic outlook. We were on track, with fewer fatalities from impaired driving every year. But then the situation changed. What happened? The answer is pretty simple:
Drugs.
For the past several decades, the message about impaired driving has focused on alcohol. As a society, we are mostly in agreement that alcohol and driving don’t mix. Traffic safety PSAs, driver education, and social stigma all look down on drunk driving. It’s not that we’ve said that driving while using drugs has been okay; it’s just that we haven’t had all that many drivers using drugs. In the past few years that has changed. For the first time, in 2014, we had more impaired driving fatalities attributed to drug impaired drivers than alcohol impaired drivers. That’s also the year that marijuana became legal in Washington.
Whatever your view on legalization of marijuana or the acceptability of drug use, we have to recognize that as drug use becomes more socially acceptable and legally available, more people will use drugs, and an increase in drug use results in an increase in the number of people who could potentially drive high.
Most significant, drivers who mix two or more drugs, or mix drugs and alcohol, are the deadliest impaired drivers. Take a look at the chart:
In the past five years, fatal crashes involving drivers with a blood alcohol level of .08 (and no drug use) have decreased by 42%. That’s the good news.
Drivers using one drug, or consuming alcohol under the presumptive limit of .08 have had a minimal increase. A note about the presumptive limit: This is the point where the law assumes everyone is impaired. Many people are impaired at less than a .08. The presumptive limit is a useful tool in impaired driving investigation, but somehow a portion of our driving population has assumed that it’s minimum number you need to get a DUI. Not True. An impaired driver can get a DUI at whatever level causes the impairment. That could be a .05. Or even a .03. (Not likely, but I’ve heard of DUI prosecution at that level.)
Look at poly-drug fatalities. It has nearly doubled in the last five years. What happened? I don’t know for sure, but I’ll make some guesses.
The most obvious contributing factor is the legalization of marijuana. (But this was already trending up prior to legalization.) In a 2015 study, researchers found that about 20% of drivers in Washington had THC (the psychoactive chemical in marijuana) in their system. An increase in drivers mixing alcohol and marijuana corresponds with the legalization of marijuana.
Prescription medications have become more common. Some prescriptions, such as opioid pain medications, clearly cause impairment. But other medications may seem as if they don’t. When someone takes their prescribed dose at the correct intervals, many prescriptions don’t cause noticeable impairment. But mix that prescription with alcohol or a recreational drug and the combined effect is greater than either drug on its own.
Whatever the cause for the increases in impaired driving fatalities, these are preventable deaths. Every DUI fatality involves a person who made the wrong choice to drive while impaired. Please choose not to drive if you plan to drink or use drugs, and encourage your friends to make the same wise choice. Holiday impaired driving patrols are happening now; if drivers don’t make the wise choice on their own, the cops may do it for them.
You bring up some very interesting points.
You are correct in that the attention has mostly been on decreasing drunk driving. I recently wrote an article on what to do when you see a drunk driver. It should have been more aptly stated, what to do when you see anyone driving impared. The article can be found on my website http://www.bestdrivingschoolsnellville.com. But the premise is that whenever you see someone driving impaired you need to call 911. This sounds obvious, but I know a couple years ago that was not my first response when I saw impaired drivers. As much as we would hope people will make good driving decisions, it is up to bystanders to report when cases of impaired driving happen in order to avoid potentially deadly tragedies.