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- Title
Cannabis and Motor Vehicle Crashes.
- Authors
Lau, Monica; Brubacher, Jeff; Chan, Herb
- Abstract
Hypothesis: Marijuana use is a road safety issue. We hypothesize that 10% of drivers treated in hospital for injuries sustained in a car crash will have biochemical evidence of recent marijuana use and that marijuana-using drivers are more likely to have caused the crash. Background and Experimental Research: Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Canada and many drivers, especially young adults, report driving after using cannabis. Although there is abundant experimental evidence that cannabis, either alone or in combination with alcohol, impairs the psychomotor skills required for safe driving, epidemiological data on the contribution of cannabis to car crashes is mixed. This uncertainty hinders the ability of traffic safety policy makers to develop effective, evidence-based, traffic laws or road safety campaigns targeting people who drive while impaired by cannabis. The primary objective of the study proposed here is to determine whether injured drivers who used cannabis before a motor vehicle crash (MVC) are more likely to have caused the crash than those who did not. Our aim is to improve traffic safety by providing current North American data that can be used to inform the development of evidence based road safety policy targeting people who drive while impaired by cannabis. Drivers treated in the Emergency Departments (ED) at five trauma centers throughout BC will be identified by chart review. Excess blood remaining after clinical use will be analyzed to determine the presence and concentration of cannabis, alcohol and other drugs that could impair driving ability. Anticipated Results: We anticipate collecting blood samples from 3000 patients over the next five years. Of these, we anticipate that 10% of injured drivers will be positive for marijuana, and 30% for alcohol. These results will be linked to motor vehicle crash reports to determine culpability. Results will have traffic safety policy implications.
- Subjects
CANNABIS (Genus); TRAFFIC accidents; MARIJUANA abuse; TRAFFIC safety; AUTOMOBILE driver education
- Publication
UBC Medical Journal, 2011, Vol 2, Issue 2, p15
- ISSN
1920-7425
- Publication type
Abstract