DRUGGED DRIVING’S IMPACT ON AMERICA’S ROADWAYS
BY KYLE J. CLARK, INSTITUTE OF POLICE TECHNOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT
For many years, highway safety proponents have suspected drugs, both legal and illicit, have played a significant role in traffic deaths. Alcohol-impaired driving, however, has consistently overshadowed the evidence for drug-impaired driving. This trend is quickly coming to an end.
The Drug-impaired Driving Problem In 2006, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) con- ducted their fourth roadside survey to help assess the incidents of drug-impairment on our nation’s highways. Previous studies had been conducted in 1973, 1986, and 1996, but this was the first survey to add the use of daytime checkpoints in addition
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to the typical nightime checks. Tere were 260 survey events conducted at night, and 60 during the day. In addition to breath alcohol tests on a portable breath test device, oral fluids and blood samples were requested from drivers who were randomly selected. Te results of this study were stag- gering—over 16 percent of drivers were found to have the presence of an impairing drug psychoactive at the time they were
driving. Tis translated to one in six driv- ers having at least one active drug in their nervous system that could adversely affect their ability to drive. Other studies have depicted similar re-
sults. In the state of Florida, alcohol testing of fatally-injured drivers is present in virtu- ally all cases. Drug testing, however, has been relatively sparse. In 2009, a majority of fatally-injured drivers were tested for the
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