Drivers on American roads are increasingly dependent on marijuana and prescription drugs. The prominent rise of accidents that amount from impaired drivers in the society has raised a new safety challenge. This is happening across the United States despite driving while drunk being illegal. In fact, a person driving must not have blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) of 0.08 or higher in some states ( Dills, Goffard, & Miron, 2016) . The laws governing driving under the influence of drugs differ across the states. This paper is going to explore the impact of impaired drivers on society and much so, in the era there is a trend of legalizing marijuana for recreational and medicinal use in some states.
With the increased efforts to address the issue of driving under the influence of drug and save lives, NHTSA is endeavoring to widen its understanding on the way drivers are using drugs. Such an agency go ahead to assess the utilization of marijuana and the rest of the drugs and the ways in which they influence the safety of the nation’s roads. A recent study done by NHTSA (Li, Simons-Morton, Gee, & Hingson, 2016) established that there is a heightened rise in the number of drivers taking marijuana and other legal drugs. In this 2014 study, about one in four drivers were found to consume at least one drug that could compromise safety.
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A subsequent survey done by NHTSA, the largest that had ever done, evaluated whether the use of marijuana by drivers could be linked to the greater risk of accidents. The study established that the users of marijuana had a higher probability to get an accident. The heightened risk of getting accident could have been in part be because of groups of marijuana users ( Dills, Goffard, & Miron, 2016) . Specifically, the larger percentage of marijuana users are more probably to be young men- a category that is presently at a higher risk.
Drunk driving causes an astounding toll on any society. Impaired drivers have caused innumerable loss of human life in the nation. Traffic crashes are speedily killing teens of ages between 15 and 20-years-old. 50 to 75 percent of drivers have their licenses revoked or suspended just because drug use (Li et al., 2016). In fact, impaired drivers in the United States kill a person every 45 minutes. All states in the United States are now legalizing drinking for only individuals with 21 years and above.
Legalization of medical marijuana is not connected with the heightened traffic accidents. A new study established that in some states, in fact, the number of individuals dying because of fatalities on the roads came down after the laws on medical marijuana were passed. Since 1996, 28 states have enacted laws to make marijuana legal for medical purposes (Li et al., 2016). The number of people dying came down by 11 percent averagely in states that legalized the drug. This study was carried out on 1.2 million traffic accidents in the whole nation since 1985 through to 2014. The reduction in traffic accidents was majorly dominant in those between ages 25 and 44-year-olds, about 12 percent. Notably, this age category had a majority of them to have been registered users of medical marijuana. Another study done by Dills, Goffard, and Miron (2016) on 19 states reflected the same scenario- drop in traffic fatalities. It revealed an 8 to 11 percent reduction in traffic accidents in the initial entire year after medical marijuana was legalized.
On the contrary, other studies still maintain that public safety does not reduce with escalated access to marijuana. In fact, both marijuana and alcohol must be consumed with caution as they impair driving. It is not known why traffic fatalities could drop in states where medical marijuana have been legalized. Li et al. (2016) state that such findings may only reflect an association, it cannot verify cause and effect. An explanation to this would be that the traffic accidents might have been decreased because of other factors like the heightened presence of authorities after the legalization of medical marijuana.
Even though traffic fatalities have dropped after the enactment of medical marijuana laws, some states indicate an opposite result. According to a study by Li et al. (2016), traffic deaths increased in Rhode Island and Connecticut after the legalization of marijuana laws. California recorded an immediate reduction of traffic fatalities by 16 percent after the legalization and then realized a steady rise of deaths again. New Mexico also evidenced a similar trend of an immediate cut of above 17 percent and the saw a gradual increase.
In conclusion, the findings of various pieces of research reveal that users of illegal drugs and prescription medicines contribute most of the road accidents. The legalization of medical marijuana use in some states is not detrimental and may not largely compromise the highway safety as it may be assumed. Both the national and state governments must work with NHTSA and other non-governmental institutions to come up either with quick solutions since more and more users of drugs are causing the crashes or at a higher risk of the accidents. The law enforcement authorities must come up with better ways to test road users for marijuana intoxication. It should be taken seriously particularly because the findings on the response to medical marijuana laws differs from one state to the other.
References
Dills, A., Goffard, S., & Miron, J. (2016). Dose of reality: The effect of state marijuana legalizations.
Li, K., Simons-Morton, B., Gee, B., & Hingson, R. (2016). Marijuana-, alcohol-, and drug- impaired driving among emerging adults: changes from high school to one-year post-high school. Journal of safety research , 58 , 15-20.
