30% of Canadians have driven after smoking cannabis or have been in a car driven by someone who has

January 07, 2020, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

Driving High - Don't Do It

CAA has conducted a series of polls on driving under the influence of cannabis lately and the findings are disturbing. Their poll found that:

• 1 in 2 cannabis users have driven while intoxicated
• 69% of cannabis impaired drivers are males
• Drivers between 25-34 are most likely to drive high
• 1.9 million Ontario drivers have driven under the influence
• 1 in 5 Canadians say they have driven high or with someone who was high
• 89% of young Canadians said they wouldn’t drive themselves home after drinking alcohol, yet 66% of those same individuals would be willing to drive themselves home after consuming cannabis (CAA polling, 2018).
• 20% of young Canadians (aged 18 to 34) believe their driving is unaffected by cannabis ( CAA polling, 2018).
• 30% of young Canadians say they have either driven after smoking cannabis or been in an automobile driven by someone who had recently smoked cannabis (CAA polling, 2018).

In addition to this the CAA cites the following facts

• 25% of young Canadians believe that the impacts of cannabis consumption are less detrimental to their driving ability than alcohol (Government of Canada).
• 44% of Canadians said it’s safe to drive less than five hours after they’ve consumed cannabis (CAA polling, 2018).
• First-time cannabis use is up by 4% since legalization, with 18% of Canadians reporting recreational cannabis use (Statistics Canada).
• 65% of Canadians agree that cannabis users often fail to realize that they are impaired from using cannabis (Government of Canada).
• 81% of Canadians know someone who has used cannabis and 56% have consumed cannabis at some point in their lives (Government of Canada).
• 44% of youth say it is easy to tell if someone is too high to drive (Government of Canada).

Please take this opportunity to review your own behavior around cannabis use and driving and speak to your children about it as well.

About Deutschmann Law

Deutschmann Law serves South-Western Ontario with offices in Kitchener-Waterloo, Cambridge, Woodstock, Brantford, Stratford and Ayr. The law practice of Robert Deutschmann focuses almost exclusively in personal injury and disability insurance matters. For more information, please visit www.deutschmannlaw.com or call us at 1-519-742-7774.

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