Frightening Facts on Drug Impaired Driving

September 19, 2016, Kitchener, Ontario

Posted by: Robert Deutschmann, Personal Injury Lawyer

In 2010, drug impaired driving in Canada accounted for as many deaths on the road as alcohol impaired driving, making it a large problem that hasn’t been well publicized. To try and combat this problem, which is expected to increase as recreation marijuana use becomes legal, police forces across the country are testing road side tests for marijuana.

While alcohol remains relatively easy to test for (it can be smelled on the breath, and measured on breath as well), the thousands of drugs on the streets have no easy tests to administer. Testing for most drugs requires a blood or saliva sample as well as a test designed for the specific drug, although Canadian companies have developed two devices that measure THC in a driver’s breath. They have not been tested by police. There are no set limits for impairment either for the drugs making enforcement and conviction difficult.

The new devices being rolled out for pot use oral fluid drug screening. They are commercially available and being used in other countries for ten years, but haven’t been approved for use in Canada yet. Legislative changes will be required before their use can be adopted. Some impairments is due to the use of legally prescribed medications.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse released a fact sheet on drug-impaired driving that contains some frightening facts:

• The crash rate of cannabis users is from two to six times more often than drivers who are not impaired, the different rates are due to how much and how often drivers have smoked cannabis
• Studies of traffic crashes reveal that drivers who test positive for the use of sedatives are up to two to eight times more likely than alcohol- and drug-free drivers to be involved in a fatal traffic crash
• Drivers who are impaired by cocaine are two to ten times more likely to be involved in a crash
• Drivers who recently started taking benzodiazepine (e.g., sleep aids or downers) are two to five times more likely to be involved in a crash than drivers who are not impaired
• Marijuana is used more often before driving than any other drug, in some cases exceeding alcohol, and a recent Ontario study revealed that marijuana was the most common illicit drug present among drivers in a fatal motor vehicle collision
• More young drivers in Ontario drive after using marijuana than after drinking alcohol - In 2011, 12.6% of young Canadians aged 15–24 admitted to driving after taking marijuana but 10.7% reported driving after drinking
• Youth are driving after they use drugs and riding with impaired drivers - In Ontario 17% of drivers in grades 10 to 12 reported that within the past 12 months they had driven within one hour of using cannabis at least once

In light of these statistics you should consider speaking to your kids about this very real problem.

You can read more from the factsheet here.

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.

The opinions expressed here, while intended to provide useful information, should not be interpreted as legal recommendations or advice.