Driving Under the Influence of Drugs are the cause of many traffic accidents. A drunk motorist is usually the one that is in the public’s mind however the driver whose car is crashing into you may be impaired by many things like marijuana.
USA law prohibits drivers to drive under the influence regardless of the cause. According to the Local Attorneys 360 states:
- One-third of all vehicle accidents involve drivers under the influence of anything other than alcohol.
- 13% of motorists who are on the road late at night, or on weekend, have marijuana in their system.
- Marijuana addicts are around 25 percent more likely be involved in a car accident than drivers who have no evidence of marijuana usage
In the past ten years, the number of crashes caused by drivers who are affected by cannabis have risen as has the pot’s recreational consumption, according to the New York Times. A new study on US public safety statistics shows that the proportion of car accidents that killed marijuana users increased from 9% to 22% between 2020 until the year 2022. At the same time the proportion of deaths that involved alcohol was roughly the same.
What Does Marijuana affect driving?
Marijuana can affect the brain in different ways in a different way than alcohol does. It is possible to feel high in a matter of moments if you smoke it, but the effects is expected to fade within about three or four hours. If you consume food that has marijuana, it’ll be longer before you feel the high since it’s processed through your liver and digestive system rather than your lungs.
The duration of the feeling is a bit of a guesswork. When someone eats something, they may not feel anything initially, thinking they won’t feel high, but then they begin driving and start to feel impaired driving.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the intoxicant in marijuana, can affect various driving habits that include the ability to shift lanes, reaction times and judgement. It can trigger anxiety and can alter perception of time and speed.
Who’s more Dangerous? A Driver who is drunk or stoned?
A 2021 study that involved more than 4000 drivers from an United State police database revealed that drivers who are under the impaired by alcohol is around 17.8 percent more likely to be involved in a fatal crash than a driver who’s sober.
Police have classified motorists as impaired by cannabis are 1.65 time more likely be involved in fatal crashes. A study of US highway safety records from 2020 found that the drivers who had been using marijuana to be 1.83 percent more likely drivers who were sober at risk of being involved in fatal crashes.
What are the Benefits of blood tests to determine whether the driver was impaired?
The majority of these studies use tests for drug impairment in the aftermath of car accidents, and are extremely limited. The results can only reveal that people who have who has previously used marijuana. It isn’t possible to determine if the drug impaired their driving or even when, and the results could make drunken driving more dangerous than it actually is. You can contact Local Rehab Centers is the best drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in Los Angeles that provides drug and alcohol addiction treatment and test in Los Angeles.
As cannabis is able to remain in fat tissues up to 28 days after consumption, an positive test does not necessarily mean that the driver was intoxicated while driving. In addition to being affected by time, but there’s no standardized concentration of marijuana in your body that indicates that you’re drunk.
With these limitations on testing regardless of regardless of whether the driver faces the criminal justice system or has an civil action seeking to recover compensation for accidents injuries There must be more evidence than the results of the test to prove that the driver was impaired when driving.
This is usually evidence from witnesses or footage of the way the driver drove before the incident and how they acted and behaved afterward. Drivers’ admissions that they were drunk could also be used.
Have You injured in a Car Accident and require an attorney?
Were you injured in a vehicle accident by a driver impaired by marijuana? contact Accident Lawyer Attorneys Los Angeles to schedule a consultation. We’ll talk about the accident, your injuries, the law, and your best options to proceed.
