COMMENTARY: New meaning to HIGHway safety - Drugged driving

Being “high” on our highways is an alarming trend as we see an increasing number of drivers high behind the wheel. Driving under the influence of drugs is an active and real threat to motorists, passengers, and pedestrians — and more prevalent than we may think. Legal and illegal drugs, including prescription medications, especially when dangerously combined with the use of alcohol, are putting more of us at risk on the road.

The fact is, people who abuse illegal or legal drugs also drive. They are driving to school, jobs and the places where they purchase their drugs. And the reality is, many of them shouldn’t be behind the wheel of a vehicle.

The Delaware Office of Highway Safety and AAA have decided to start a public conversation about the issue because we have a genuine traffic safety concern about legalization of recreational marijuana, the use of prescription drugs and the opioid epidemic.

Delawareans may not be aware of the heartbreaking drug abuse crisis in our state. A recent survey by AAA shows that most Delawareans (74 percent) say they aren’t aware that we have the ninth-highest drug overdose death rate in the country.

According to Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, fentanyl overdose deaths have more than doubled in the state this year, with 90 people dying of the synthetic, highly addictive painkiller in nine months.

Cathy Rossi

A recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey reveals that while alcohol use by drivers dropped between 2007 and 2014, the proportion of drivers with a drug (illegal, prescription, or over-the-counter) in their systems grew from 16.3 percent to 20 percent in the same time period, a significant increase.

The drug showing the greatest spike was marijuana, with an increase of 48 percent.

Drivers killed in crashes who test positive for marijuana are up to 6.6 times more likely to have caused the collision. That’s because marijuana decreases driver performance and attention, and increases reaction time and lane deviation.

According to new AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research, fatal crashes involving drivers who recently used marijuana more than doubled — from 8 percent to 17 percent — in the state of Washington just one year after the state legalized the drug for recreational use. This translates to one in six drivers involved in fatal crashes testing positive for active THC. This trend is troubling because the proportion of fatal crashes involving marijuana in Washington had been relatively stable between 2010 and 2013.

Most states are ill-prepared to handle drugged driving. That’s partly because there is no easy roadside test to determine whether a driver is impaired by marijuana. Unlike alcohol, impairment by THC in marijuana can’t be determined by mere breath or blood tests alone, which poses a serious challenge for law enforcement and prosecutors.

Recently, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety, Attorney General’s office, and AAA hosted a statewide Drugged Driving Summit bringing together professionals in the law enforcement, medical and public policy fields to talk about an action plan to address the issue of drugged driving.

Jana Simpler

AAA, the Delaware Office of Highway Safety and other safety partners are embarking on an effort to educate and engage the public in this important discussion.

As an initial step, the Office of Highway Safety will expand its traditionally alcohol-impaired-driving-focused outreach efforts to include drugged driving. In addition, OHS will continue to provide training to law enforcement, provide overtime funding to support enforcement of Delaware’s impaired driving laws, and engage partners on the issue of drug-impaired driving.

Strengthening our laws, our testing abilities, and our policies are needed steps, but the most important part of safer roads is a public that understands the dangers of impaired driving, and is willing to look at themselves and those around them and help ensure that no one whose driving could be impaired by drugs, legal or otherwise, gets behind the wheel.

It has taken generations to change attitudes about drunk driving, and now, we have to do the same with drugs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Cathy Rossi is vice president of public and government affairs for AAA Mid-Atlantic, headquartered in Wilmington, and Jana Simpler is director of the Delaware Office of Highway Safety and chairwoman of the Governors Highway Safety Association.