The wider implications of driving under the influence of drugs are beginning to emerge. Recent research indicates an increasing incidence of road traffic accidents where people have tested positive for drugs, i.e. drugs which may have had a contributory factor to the cause of the crash. The Transport Research Laboratory carried out tests to detect alcohol and drug levels in people involved in fatal collisions between 1985 and 1987, and then again between 1996 and 1999. The results show a six fold increase in the percentage of people testing positive for illegal drugs (with detection of cannabis increasing from 2.6% to 11.9%). Over the same period, the incidence of medicinal drugs and alcohol remained very similar. Drug taking overall, increased by a factor of three, and the proportion of those testing positive for multiple drugs increased dramatically. (Author/publisher)
Abstract