I’m thinking of using a nearby state.
Or comparing the traffic accidents near Red Rocks on a Barry Manilow night vs. a Phish night 
1 Like
I humbly apologize for not keeping fully up to date with tech that is mostly of interest only to pot-heads and police. I should be able to know what happens in every field.
I have never seen one, or seen one depicted on TV or movies. Thanks for pointing out that they are coming, but the “LMGTFY” was a sarcastic and pointless touch.
1 Like
Well, those tests are designed for alcohol. I am certainly not an expert, but I would expect that marijuana impairs you in a different way, so new tests are needed. I would expect that a coke-head would be able to pass an alcohol test with flying colors. I have no real experience with coke or MJ, so I admit that I could be completely wrong.
True enough. Sometimes in the law and law enforcement, common sense is not quite so common.
A friend of mine back in high school once said “you know man, if I’ve been drinking and I drive I find that I go way too fast, but if I’ve been smoking pot it seems like I’m already going too fast and I’ll look down at the speedometer and I’m way under the limit.”
1 Like
“I’m thinking of using a nearby state.”
We have placed $100000 in Scottsdale Arizona. First one to get there wins. But before you go, you need to drink or smoke according to the group you have been assigned to.
Oh, you probably meant as a population to compare statistics with.
3 Likes
Yeah, by “big problem” I mean in context of how big a problem automotive accidents are these days, which is still a pretty big problem given the high value we are able to put on human life. Back in the day of 50% infant mortality people would have begged to worry about drunk driving instead of waterborne diseases, but these days I can see why we can be mad that automotive accidents aren’t falling fast enough even as they approach all-time lows.
Yeah, I’m in a mood today…filters not working as well as they should. (But, working well enuf to stop now, lest this devolve into a pissing match) Feel free to snark me, I owe you one.
It’s all cool. Tell you what. If you are ever in the Colorado Springs area, let me know. I will buy you a beer. We have some pretty darned good micro-brews around here.
2 Likes
You’re on…as long as we agree to not bring up digital audio’s theoretical perfection (which is the genesis of today’s misfiring filters : -)
i was pulled over by The CHP years ago and after the officer concluded I was not drunk he asked me if I had been arguing with my spouse (who was sitting in the passenger seat.) My reply was a weak and guilty grin. He said driving while angry wasn’t illegal, but was a leading cause of accidents, so chill. I promised to do that and the wifey and I laughed about it as I drove off.
Anger and a pot high don’t co-exist… Maybe that is part of the explanation.
3 Likes
There were studies done in the 1990s in the Netherlands, by, among other organizations, researchers from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The basic conclusion was that pot causes slight impairment, alcohol causes more serious impairment, and that combining them both is very, very bad for driving skills. For more details, see the paper at the link. I was delighted to have it cross my desk in 1993–as an example of what your tax money is going to fund.
2 Likes
I’m gonna throw out the impairment proprioception theory.
With alcohol, much of the problem is that people who are drunk don’t always know they are drunk. So there may be a fight to take the car keys from the drunk guy.
A person stoned on marijuana, to a similar level of impairment, OTOH, likely knows he is wasted, and will probably give up his keys.
Except there is no similar level of impairment. Just a nit that needed picking.
the article linked 2 above has 300µg/kg being equivalent .07% blood alcohol. Admittedly this is based on a particular measure (lateral position on the road (i.e. hitting cones) and some of the other studies that the authors mention did not find any effect but were at lower doses.
The authors also suggest that the impairment starts at a low does but does not increase greatly from there.
There is some good data that shows that while both alcohol and pot impair motor skills, stoned people are far more conscious of their impairment that drunk people. A drunk person who does not realize he is motor impaired is far more dangerous than a stoned guy who knows his reflexes and attention are gone.
Now, for the record, both are dangerous, and both are and should be illegal. Generally states already have a statute for non-alcohol impairment, and one for “drunk driving”. One is “Driving under the influence” and one is “Driving while intoxicated”. The key difference being that one is for Blood Alcohol Content, and the other is for impairment by drugs or medication that is not as easily quantified.
Texting while driving is pure insanity. You wouldn’t dash off a handwritten letter in traffic, you wouldn’t make a sandwich in traffic, you absolutely shouldn’t take your eyes completely off the road, one-hand the wheel and text while in traffic.
My brother does it all the time. On a few occasions when he’s driven me places and texted, I’ve threatened the next time he does it and I’m in the car, I’m pulling the hand brake, and taking his keys. He thinks I’m a douche for it, but I’d rather not die because he can’t be bothered to keep his eyes on the road and pay attention while driving.
It’s just insane to text and drive, and I can’t believe anyone thinks it’s even remotely okay.
1 Like
Unfortunately most days I see evidence that people disagree. Or at least think they are somehow different that the rest of us.
1 Like
Well, luckily the only thing that changed between these time periods in the entire state of CO is the marijuana laws. Oh wait, they didn’t really change much either, just recreational Store sales. This is bad “science.” Correlation causation etc etc.
I am pro-legalization, but this is one of the most absurd arguments I’ve heard.
I’m also an ER Nurse, and let me tell you, there are plenty of people crashing while stoned. But if you can’t measure it, and you can’t test for it, and it’s not reported in trauma statistics - it doesn’t appear to exist.
The FiatRN
I lament the falling popularity of manual transmission vehicles specifically for the reason that texting is much less possible unless you’re on the open road - both hands and both feet are already busy being useful.
1 Like
From the article:
“Of course, the continuing drop in roadway fatalities, in Colorado and elsewhere, is due to a variety of factors, such as better-built cars and trucks, improved safety features and better road engineering. These figures in and of themselves only indicate that the roads are getting safer; they don’t suggest that pot had anything to do with it. We’re also only seven months in. Maybe these figures will change. Finally, it’s also possible that if it weren’t for legal pot, the 2014 figures would be even lower. There’s no real way to know that.”
1 Like
