Drug driving incidents are increasing at an alarming rate

Despite the fact that drug drivers are known to have more car accidents, drug driving has reached new levels and more people are having drug-related accidents than ever before.

UK experts say that studies from the University of Auckland in New Zealand show that more public drug education is required and that a link between cannabis use and car accidents has been known for some time.

The New Zealand team surveyed 571 drivers of cars involved in car accidents where at least one person in the vehicle was hospitalised or killed and a control group of 588 drivers were randomly selected from cars in Auckland city.

They were asked if they had taken cannabis in the three hours prior to the crash and were also asked about their cannabis use over the previous 12 months.

Habitual cannabis users were 9.5 times more likely to be involved in road traffic accidents, with 5.6 % of people surveyed who used the drug being more likely to have a car accident compared to 0.5 % of the control group.

Researchers led by Stephanie Blows said: "The prevalence of self-reported recent cannabis use in the Auckland driving population was less than one % and those who did use marijuana prior to driving were highly likely to be habitual users.

"This suggests that interventions targeting high-risk marijuana-use groups may be more cost-effective than random roadside testing."

In Victoria, Australia, the Victorian Parliament gave motorists something to chew over three years ago when legislation was passed, empowering police to randomly test drivers for the presence of the active component of cannabis.

Drivers were randomly selected for saliva tests, where police would ask the driver of the car to place their tongue on the collector, place the collector in their mouths or to chew it. Anyone found guilty of driving with illicit drugs in their bodies when they had a car accident now faces fines of up to $1200 and a possible cancellation of their driver's licence.

Another survey in Sydney revealed that 88 % of users who had driven a car that year had drug-driven during that period.

Car accident compensation claims
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