CONSUMER Legalized marijuana linked to a sharp rise in car crashes

[EvilCat Breath]

After states legalized medical marijuana, traffic deaths fell | Reuters

(Reuters Health) - Legalization of medical marijuana is not linked with increased traffic fatalities, a new study finds. In some states, in fact, the number of people killed in traffic accidents dropped after medical marijuana laws were enacted.

Instead of seeing an increase in fatalities, we saw a reduction, which was totally unexpected,” said Julian Santaella-Tenorio, the study’s lead author and a doctoral student at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City.

Since 1996, 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical use.

Deaths dropped 11 percent on average in states that legalized medical marijuana, researchers discovered after analyzing 1.2 million traffic fatalities nationwide from 1985 through 2014.

The decrease in traffic fatalities was particularly striking – 12 percent – in 25- to 44-year-olds, an age group with a large percentage of registered medical marijuana users, the authors report in the American Journal of Public Health.

Marijuana legalization has not increased traffic fatalities

it depends on who you ask
.Marijuana Linked to Increase in Fatal Car Accidents

 

[JOSweetHeart]

This is why it needs to be made illegal again.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[Jarlaxle]

then you better get me first shot,because you wont get a second shot....just keep that in mind....

I will, don’t worry. Fair warning... shoot high. If I’m on the range there’s about a 90% chance I’m wearing a vest (level IIA)

The right caliber will go through that like paper.

 

[airplanemechanic]

I've actually had guys I know look me right in the eye and say they are more alert and driver "better" after a six pack or so.

I'm sure pot heads feel EXACTLY the same....no matter what reality is.

You must not know very many pot heads then. There are a lot of us out there who won't drive while stoned.

Don't. And don't say it's safe.
At least you seem responsible.
get stoned at home and stay home. I couldn't care less.
But when some high (or drunk) jackass gets behind the wheel and is a threat to me ...I don't take kindly.
Especially if I'm on a motorcycle.

yea how many times have i been doing 70-75 on the freeway and some fucking guy on a motorcycle passes between me and another car and leaves us in the dust and passes other cars just as dangerously.....so are you bikers more or less dangerous than a pot smoker?.......

I've had car drivers do the same thing. What's your point?

 

[debbiedowner]

By the way................did you know that if you eat a lot of sugar, it negates the high? That is one of the reasons I like to eat before smoking.

Drinking coffee on the other hand, seems to make the effects a bit better. I think it's the caffeine.

Drinking lots of water or eating some peppercorn also brings you down.

 

[debbiedowner]

Big surprise. Get ready for higher car insurance rates , thanks to potheads.
Canada, get ready.


About 14 percent of drivers under the influence of pot had a child in their vehicle.



Legalized marijuana linked to a sharp rise in car crashes

While we're at it, let's criminalise alcohol. See how that works out..

I think it should be.

 

[Harry Dresden]

I've actually had guys I know look me right in the eye and say they are more alert and driver "better" after a six pack or so.

I'm sure pot heads feel EXACTLY the same....no matter what reality is.

You must not know very many pot heads then. There are a lot of us out there who won't drive while stoned.

Don't. And don't say it's safe.
At least you seem responsible.
get stoned at home and stay home. I couldn't care less.
But when some high (or drunk) jackass gets behind the wheel and is a threat to me ...I don't take kindly.
Especially if I'm on a motorcycle.

yea how many times have i been doing 70-75 on the freeway and some fucking guy on a motorcycle passes between me and another car and leaves us in the dust and passes other cars just as dangerously.....so are you bikers more or less dangerous than a pot smoker?.......

I've had car drivers do the same thing. What's your point?

i have to explain this to you?....

 

[frigidweirdo]

Big surprise. Get ready for higher car insurance rates , thanks to potheads.
Canada, get ready.


About 14 percent of drivers under the influence of pot had a child in their vehicle.

California Highway Patrol officers investigate the scene of a multi-car crash on Interstate 880 in Fremont, Calif. Several people were killed in a multi-car crash that closed several lanes of a major San Francisco Bay highway and officials say the driver suspected of causing it was under the influence of marijuana.Joseph Geha / AP file


There has been an increase by up to 6 percent in the number of highway crashes in four of the states where the recreational use of marijuana has been legalized, according to a pair of new studies.

The new reports do not prove there’s a direct risk caused by the use of marijuana among motorists, but they raise caution flags, especially since there is no easy way to test drivers to be sure if they are, in fact, under the influence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, said David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Highway Loss Data Institute.



“It’s certainly early in the game,” Harkey told NBC News. But, he warned, “We’re seeing a trend in the wrong direction.”

Legalized marijuana linked to a sharp rise in car crashes

But banning guns, which could reduce gun deaths though is a big no no. But banning weed is a big yes yes because.....

You're about as consistent as something that's not consistent.

 

[Harry Dresden]

When you factor in the likelyhood that victims of automobile accidents aren't usually tested for marijuana the way they are tested for alcohol impairment you can probably double the percentage. It's ironic that suburban and urban mothers who wouldn't dare drink a beer or take a shot of bourbon during the day might take a toke of the nefarious weed to calm their nerves because the liberal establishment says it's cool and good for them..

so since they never looked for it before they legalized it and now they are looking you cant say its up or down....this could be the way it has been for the last 40 years for all they know........

 

[Toronado3800]

Big surprise. Get ready for higher car insurance rates , thanks to potheads.
Canada, get ready.


About 14 percent of drivers under the influence of pot had a child in their vehicle.

California Highway Patrol officers investigate the scene of a multi-car crash on Interstate 880 in Fremont, Calif. Several people were killed in a multi-car crash that closed several lanes of a major San Francisco Bay highway and officials say the driver suspected of causing it was under the influence of marijuana.Joseph Geha / AP file


There has been an increase by up to 6 percent in the number of highway crashes in four of the states where the recreational use of marijuana has been legalized, according to a pair of new studies.

The new reports do not prove there’s a direct risk caused by the use of marijuana among motorists, but they raise caution flags, especially since there is no easy way to test drivers to be sure if they are, in fact, under the influence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, said David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Highway Loss Data Institute.



“It’s certainly early in the game,” Harkey told NBC News. But, he warned, “We’re seeing a trend in the wrong direction.”

Legalized marijuana linked to a sharp rise in car crashes

I'm all for legalized pot. And a Wheel of Fortune type wheel in every courtroom which gives a 1 in 10,000 chance of getting the death penalty assigned to you if you are caught driving drunk or high.

Time to be an adult my fellow Americans! I could care less if you're stoned or what you're doing with your sticks and holes on your own. Involve me on the hwy and I'm out for blood.

 

[playtime]

Getting high is more important than road safety. Getting high is more important than anything.

tell that to all the legal opioid prescription addicts.

 

[Dr Grump]

I think it should be.

yeah, because the past has shown how well that works out.

 

[danielpalos]

Big surprise. Get ready for higher car insurance rates , thanks to potheads.
Canada, get ready.


About 14 percent of drivers under the influence of pot had a child in their vehicle.

California Highway Patrol officers investigate the scene of a multi-car crash on Interstate 880 in Fremont, Calif. Several people were killed in a multi-car crash that closed several lanes of a major San Francisco Bay highway and officials say the driver suspected of causing it was under the influence of marijuana.Joseph Geha / AP file


There has been an increase by up to 6 percent in the number of highway crashes in four of the states where the recreational use of marijuana has been legalized, according to a pair of new studies.

The new reports do not prove there’s a direct risk caused by the use of marijuana among motorists, but they raise caution flags, especially since there is no easy way to test drivers to be sure if they are, in fact, under the influence of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, said David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s Highway Loss Data Institute.



“It’s certainly early in the game,” Harkey told NBC News. But, he warned, “We’re seeing a trend in the wrong direction.”

Legalized marijuana linked to a sharp rise in car crashes

technology can save us; thank goodness for driver assistance technologies!