Personal Injury Blog

Smoking Marijuana before Driving Doubles Motorist’s Accident Risks

February 21st, 2012
smoking marijuana before driving

A new study indicates that a person who has smoked marijuana just before driving can have his risks of being involved in an accident almost double.

A new study indicates that a person who has smoked marijuana just before driving  can have his risks of being involved in an accident almost double.

According to the report which has been published in the British Medical Journal, there’s definitely a link between drivers who smoke pot just before driving and their risk of an accident. Newport Beach car accident attorneys find the results of the study to be very disturbing.  That’s because people who smoke pot tend to be unaware of their impaired driving, compared to persons who are intoxicated.

The researchers based their study on reports of close to 50,000 car accident victims, and evaluated which of the victims had traces of marijuana in their systems, or reported smoking marijuana 3 hours before the accident.  They found that those persons who had smoked marijuana before driving, had their risk of being involved in an accident increase by 1% compared to those who had not smoked pot before driving.

The researchers say that there is no conclusive proof of exactly how marijuana affects a person’s identity.  However, the fact is that marijuana users often use the excuse that most drunk driving accidents are caused by persons driving under the influence of alcohol, and not pot.  There is a general conception that smoking marijuana is much safer and involves fewer accident risks than drinking alcohol.

What this new research seems to indicate is that that line of thinking is probably not true at all.  Additionally, many safety experts believe that persons, who are driving under the influence of marijuana, may not be aware of their impaired abilities like drunk drivers.  These people are less likely to call for a taxi service, and less likely to designate a driver to take them home after.  That means an increased risk of auto accidents.

What makes the situation even more disturbing is that currently there is no known way of measuring exactly how much marijuana a person has consumed at the time of an accident.  It’s difficult to test for marijuana at the scene of an accident because of the challenges in determining the exact amount of chemicals in the blood stream.  Additionally, law enforcement may not be able to come down hard on persons who smoke pot and drive, because of strained resources.

To Newport Beach car accident lawyers, all this means that the threat of drivers impaired by marijuana, is not disappearing any time soon.

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