Unrivaled Reputation And Experience In Personal Injury Law

Landmark study focuses on driving after marijuana use

On Behalf of | Sep 12, 2012 | Uncategorized |

About five years ago, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conducted a first-of-its-kind study on the prevalence and effects of marijuana use among U.S. drivers. Much to their surprise, the agency found that more than 15 percent of the drivers surveyed, all of whom were traveling on weekend nights, had drugs in their system.But the mere presence of drugs in the drivers’ blood does not automatically mean that they were breaking the law. Marijuana use is legal for medicinal purposes in Colorado and 16 other states, and although driving while impaired by any substance is illegal in every state, there has yet to be any significant research done to determine what, exactly, constitutes “impaired” for the purposes of driving under the influence of marijuana.However, the NHTSA and other federal agencies are reportedly working to change that lack of clarity with a landmark study on the impact of marijuana use on driving ability. The test will be conducted in the coming months at the National Advanced Driving Simulator at the University of Iowa.
In the study, 20 participants between the ages of 21 and 55 will be given controlled doses of marijuana and asked to operate the simulator. There, they will “drive” through both unexpected and monotonous driving conditions in order to test the effects of marijuana on all conceivable traffic situations.

According to the lead researcher, previous studies on marijuana’s effect on the brain have found that it affects movement, control, memory and decision-making. Therefore, it is believed to significantly affect driving ability as well. Hopefully, the study will shed more light on exactly how much marijuana a driver must consume in order for those dangerous behaviors to take place, and give police departments an easily determinable threshold at which they can punish those who drive impaired by the drug.

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Study looks at driving under influence of pot,” Vanessa Miller, Sept. 9, 2012

The attorneys at our Littleton law firm help people who have been injured in car crashes involving impaired drivers. For more information, please visit our motor vehicle accidents page.

Member of The National Trial Lawyers | Top 100 Trial Lawyers
The National Trail Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
10 Best 2016 | Client Satisfaction | American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys
Best Lawyers Best Law Firms | U.S. News & World Report 2018
Rated By Super lawyers Thomas J. Tomazin 5 Years
Rated By Super lawyers Thomas J. Tomazin Selected in 2024
Rated By Super Lawyers | Haley M. Rank | Selected In 2024 Thomson Reuters
Rated By Super lawyers Rising Stars Haley M. Rank SupersLawyers.com
FindLaw Network