The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) released a study last week that finds that the percentage of fatally-injured drivers with known drug test results* who tested positive for drugs has risen over 50% in the last ten years. Drug-Impaired Driving: Marijuana and Opioids Raise Critical Issues for States presents new research to examine the impact of marijuana and opioids on driving ability and provides recommendations on how best to address these emerging challenges.
The ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol and the concurrent enforcement efforts appear to have achieved some small success – the presence of alcohol in fatally-injured drivers has fallen from 41% in 2006 to 38% in 2016. During that same period, however, the percentage of fatally-injured drivers testing positive for drugs jumped from 28% in 2006 to 44% in 2016. In about half of the tests, the drivers had either two or more drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol in their systems.