Pot Smoking Leading to More Car Accidents
Marijuana is now legal in several states, but that does not mean that you can just smoke a bunch of pot and then start driving. Marijuana can seriously impair your judgment, your motor coordination and your reaction time, and several studies have discovered a direct relationship that exists between blood THC concentration and an impaired ability to drive.
At Service King Mt Moriah in Memphis, TN we want you to have this information so that you can make educated decisions if you decide to smoke marijuana and drive.
The drug that is most frequently found in the blood of drivers who have been involved in vehicle accidents, including fatal ones is marijuana and second only to alcohol. Two highly regarded European studies discovered that drivers with THC in their blood or urine were roughly two times more likely to be responsible for causing a fatal crash than as opposed to drivers without drugs or alcohol in their systems.
It's a topic that has been debated frequently because the role of marijuana in vehicle crashes is often unclear. Pot can be detected in your body fluids for several days or even weeks after smoking marijuana, and because people often combine it with alcohol. Those involved in accidents with THC in their blood are 3 to 7 times more likely to be responsible for collisions when compared to drivers who have not used drugs and/or alcohol.
Several multiple studies have found that the risk of being in a crash will drastically increase after marijuana use, and in many cases, the risk is doubled or more. However, an expansive case-control study conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) unveiled no significant increased crash risk attributed to pot.
Other factoids about driving while stoned include:
- Zero tolerance laws make it against the law to drive with any measurable amount of specified drugs in the body in every state.
- 16 states currently have zero tolerance laws in effect for one or more types of drugs.
- Per se laws make it against the law to drive with any amount of specified drugs in the body that exceed set limits, legal or not.
- 7 states have per se laws currently in effect for one or more drugs.
- 18 states currently have zero tolerance or non-zero per se laws for cannabis use while driving.
- 9 states have zero tolerance for THC and/or a metabolite.
- 3 states currently have zero tolerance for THC but no restriction on metabolites.
The main message of this blog is don't smoke weed and drive to be safe and ticket-free. You can get the equivalent of a DUI when under the influence of marijuana, whether its use is either legal or not.
Service King Mt Moriah in Memphis, TN 38115
Sources: NHTSA and Legal Zoo,
Social