Some sobering news as you prepare for your annual holiday parties: 55.8% of people injured or killed in a traffic accident have alcohol or other drugs in their system.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has known for years that drunk driving kills 29 Americans every day. But this new study used a different method and found more grim news.
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Researchers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gathered data from more than 7,000 accident victims in Level 1 trauma centers — the regional hospitals that handle the most serious injury cases. They studied toxicology reports from the blood of the dead and injured.
THC More Common Than Alcohol in Crash Victims
Among their findings:
- In total, 55.88% of victims had alcohol or psychoactive drugs in their systems.
- THC cannabinoids — the psychoactive substances found in marijuana — were the most common intoxicant, found in 25.1% of crash victims.
- Alcohol — the social lubricant behind holiday parties everywhere — came in second, at 23.1%. Nearly 20% had blood alcohol levels over 0.08%, the legal limit for drivers.
- Among all victims, including the injured and the dead, 19.9% had two or more drugs in their system. Among the dead, the percentage was higher, at 32%.
A few explanatory notes are in order. Amy Berning, a research psychologist who worked on the study, tells the Associated Press that the study may underestimate the prevalence of alcohol. THC, she notes, stays in the bloodstream much longer than alcohol or other drugs. Some victims may have metabolized the alcohol in their systems before tests detected it.
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The study also looked at all road users, not just drivers, so some victims may not have been driving a car while impaired.
Even if You’re Sober, Other Drivers May Not Be
But Alex Otte, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, thinks the study has important warnings even for those who never drive impaired. “You are on the road with people – potentially more than 50% of people – who are on something, whether it’s alcohol or other drugs,” she says.
