You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact contact us.
Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.
VANCOUVER -- Injured drivers taken to B.C. hospitals over the next five years will help answer the question: Do those who are high on marijuana cause more crashes than sober drivers?
In the marijuana-impairment study — the first of its kind in Canada — injured drivers will not be asked permission before their blood is collected. Since the data is collected anonymously and not used to pursue legal charges, researchers don’t have to seek approval from drivers to analyze their blood under the ethics-approved terms of the study.
Blood is drawn for treatment of any injuries and the excess amount is then analysed. The sample is assigned a code that is not shared with police, and the resulting data is then linked to police accident reports to eventually show researchers if cannabis contributed to the accident.
A recent random sampling of B.C. drivers showed that 10 per cent were impaired by alcohol and 7.2 per cent by drugs, usually marijuana or cocaine. Concentrations of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis, are what will be measured in the study, which is led by Dr. Jeffrey Brubacher, an emergency doctor at Vancouver General Hospital.
After alcohol, cannabis is the most widely used intoxicating substance in the world; in the aforementioned B.C. survey it accounted for about two-thirds of the drugs detected after police roadside stops (followed by cocaine). Many marijuana users think it’s less hazardous because cannabis tends to make people drive more slowly and less aggressively than, say, drivers who are drunk on alcohol, according to studies.
But, at the same time, drivers high on marijuana have a harder time staying within lanes and their reflexes are slower, which means they are more likely to crash into obstacles that suddenly appear. On the other hand, “cannabis users tend to overestimate their impairment whereas people who used alcohol underestimate theirs,” Brubacher stated in an explanation of his study in the B.C. Medical Journal.
Brubacher said data on the first 100 injured drivers have already been collected for the study, which aims to include information on 3,000 crash-involved drivers at five B.C. hospitals.
THC levels in blood — which are measurable no matter how the cannabis is consumed (smoked, sprayed, drunk, or eaten) — yield a blood THC concentration considered more accurate than THC metabolites in urine. Brubacher said urine metabolites remain active for days after cannabis exposure, even though impairment typically lasts less than four hours.
“Our primary objective is to determine whether injured drivers who used cannabis before a motor vehicle accident are more likely to have caused the crash than those who did not,” said Brubacher, adding that the number of crashes caused by impaired drivers will be compared to a control group of drivers who were found to be not culpable.
The ultimate goal of the $1-million study, funded by the federal Canadian Institutes of Health Research, is to help traffic-safety experts develop safer driving policies. It is possible, for example, that the study might show whether there should be a legal cutoff level for THC blood concentration, just as there is for alcohol. The study results should also help inform the debate around whether marijuana possession should be decriminalized.
When it comes to drug-impaired drivers, current practice is for police to do a roadside sobriety test if they have suspicions. If the driver fails the initial observational tests (walking a straight line, etc.) then the driver must accompany the officer to a police station for further examination by a specially trained Drug Recognition Expert. Drivers may be ordered to submit blood, saliva or urine samples, or face a fine for refusing to comply.
While there have been some surveys showing that drivers impaired by cannabis were nearly twice as likely to crash, Brubacher and his co-investigators are using a similar “culpability” study design as was used in studies in Australia and France, linking data from injured drivers to police reports to show who caused the accident and their level of impairment.
Those studies had a few drawbacks, however, including a cumbersome process in which the drawing of blood was delayed about three hours from the time of the crash.
“We anticipate that our data will provide a more accurate reflection of true THC levels at the time of crash,” Brubacher said, noting that in a pilot project, the average time from crash to blood draw was 53 minutes.
RCMP Supt. Norm Gaumont said he’s pleased the study is being conducted because compared to the evidence about the dangers of drunk driving, there is little research on the effects of drug-impaired driving. Gaumont, who heads traffic services in B.C., said there is urgency to get the type of data in the study because of a steady increase in the number of deaths caused by drug-impaired drivers. At last count, B.C. coroners showed there were 62 deaths (out of 374 in 2008) attributable to drug-impaired drivers.
“Drug impairment is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. We’ve done a good job educating people about drunk driving, but [offered] very little on drugs. So certainly this study will be a benefit,” Gaumont said. He added that B.C. law-enforcement authorities are monitoring studies in Europe and Australia, where police are experimenting with roadside saliva tests that can yield instant information about what drugs drivers have used, and their level of impairment
Blood THC would be more recent then other testing methods (like hair). It has a metabolism rate just like other drugs that's well known and just like alcohol if you have over a certain level in your blood you would be intoxicated.
I'm REALLY interested in the outcome of this study cause frankly I'm beginning to feel that driving under the influence is just as big a problem as driving while drunk and probably a contributing factor in many accidents.
__________________
~ Just another noob looking for a clue
Hmm.... I cant comment to much on this so I'll make it short. A long time ago a tried a substance called Mary Jane. Only a few times did I drive a vehicle after getting some from Mary and I noticed:
50 kph didn't feel like 50 kph.. it felt like 100
The roads felt super super long from one stoplight to the next intersection
I kept having to think about driving (when your sober you don't really have to.. that much)
I was really really relaxed with Mary by my side..
However Mary Jane has left me since high school, I have not seen her in 4 years. All the best to Mary...damn I miss dat blunt ass
I think driving on weed is fine. I won't do it because I get too paranoid of being pulled over, so I become a sketch case, otherwise if it were legal, I'd have more confidence doing it.
But if you ask me, driving sober is the only way. You just can't trust how other ppl will react if they are high. Posted via RS Mobile
maybe im not understanding the reasearch properly but
i highly doubt more than half of at fault collisions will be from people who are high; concluding that sober people cause more crashes?
IMO people drive safer stoned.
Well my opinion may be biased because 100% I am stoned and driving is at night.
When I am baked and I am approaching a stop sign I start slowing down immediately to a complete stop..... just to realize the stop sign is 2 blocks away.
^ You don't have the faculties to deal with a road stop stoned but you think you're just fine driving a vehicle?
Crack. What you're smoking is clearly not weed. It's crack if you think you drive just fine while stoned.
Have you ever smoked weed before?
Weed will fuck some people up, and it makes others focus. It also makes you more calm, meaning you aren't going to be speeding.
I'm not going to compare it to driving drunk, because being drunk just makes you crazy impaired. Although you are impaired while stoned, the impairment makes most people that much safer.
With that being said, I still don't think they should make it legal to drive stoned. Posted via RS Mobile
I think there's a bigger issue. If they find that smoking pot causes an increase in accidents (similar to alcohol) then I think they'll use the data to try and prevent legalization. Or change laws so they are able to test drivers for THC.
On the other hand, if accident rates are no different then it would provide more "ammo" for legalization (it would remove a common argument used by politicians against legalization). Posted via RS Mobile
I hope they differentiate between drivers which are both drunk AND stoned (IE people who smoke a joint and have a few drinks) vs drivers which are just stoned because it would not be fair to simply lump the former into the "stoned" category.
I think there's a bigger issue. If they find that smoking pot causes an increase in accidents (similar to alcohol) then I think they'll use the data to try and prevent legalization. Or change laws so they are able to test drivers for THC.
On the other hand, if accident rates are no different then it would provide more "ammo" for legalization (it would remove a common argument used by politicians against legalization). Posted via RS Mobile
I don't know that that's true. Since driving drunk is illegal but drinking is not.
I thought they were investigating weather it was worth while to invest in THC detection for road side (like we have breathilizers for alcohol) and if there should be some laws specifically pertaining to pot and driving (currently there are not, just vague 'under the influence' laws rather then the specific thresholds we have for alcohol).
I don't think this has anything to do with legalization.
__________________
~ Just another noob looking for a clue
ive driven stoned before, honestly the difference is miniscule but obviously when you are under the influence your driving is effected negatively no matter what you think/how much you've smoked, your attention can more easilly be distracted and your reflexes are not as quick as they would be completely sober
the people who say "lol i'm a better driver stoned because i go slower"
well you're probably a pretty shitty driver to begin with it you think that way.
__________________
Dank memes cant melt steel beams
I, uh, have a friend that drives blazed all the time. Weed puts him in the zone. He likes to rip through the curvy, mountain roads, in the interior. The only time he got into an accident was when some jackass rear-ended him, and he was out of weed at the time.
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today!
The banners on the left side and below do not show for registered users!
