A recent report by the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) examined data from 2015, finding that drugs were found more frequently than alcohol in the systems of drivers killed in car wrecks.
This recent trend comes at the same time that many states are legalizing the use of marijuana, and also as deaths from drug overdoses have increased nationwide.
Here are some of the troubling statistics that the study found:
-57% of all fatally-injured drivers nationwide were drug-tested
- Of that group, 41.7% were found to have drugs in their system
-A survey taken roadside in Washington state (mostly conducted in the evening) found that 44% of the surveyed drivers stated they had driven within two hours of using marijuana.
-Another survey is listed, of Washington and Colorado drivers who had used marijuana within the past month. This report showed that of these drivers, 43.6% said they had driven under the influence of Marijuana within the past year, and 23.9% reported driving within 1 hour of using marijuana, at least five times, over the past month.
-The percentage of cases involving suspected impaired drivers who also tested positive for THC has risen every year recently, from 19.1% from 2009 to 2012, to 33% in 2015.
Read more at the GHSA’s website, and view the original report at http://www.ghsa.org/resources/drugged-driving-2017