Cannabis & Cars A Fatal Mix....

[Guest Urbanhog]

URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n1801/a10.html

Newshawk: Niall Young

Pubdate: Tue, 24 Sep 2002

Source: West Australian (Australia)

Copyright: 2002 West Australian Newspapers Limited

Contact: letters@wanews.com.au

Website: http://www.thewest.com.au

Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495

Author: Mark Mallabone

 

 

CANNABIS, CARS A FATAL MIX

 

DRIVERS who smoked cannabis before getting behind the wheel were six times more likely to die in a crash than other road users, a parliamentary committee has been told.

 

Monash University forensic medicine expert Olaf Drummer said yesterday it was myth that stoned motorists were relatively safe because they drove slowly. Fatal smashes among this group caused by excessive speed were not uncommon.

 

"It is certainly not a safe drug in relation to road trauma," Professor Drummer told the House of Representatives standing committee on family and community affairs.

 

He unveiled an analysis which showed that drivers with relatively high levels of cannabis in their bloodstream ( more than 5ng/mL of tetrahydrocannabinol ) were 6.6 times more likely than others to die on the roads.

 

Only very drunk drivers were more vulnerable. Those with a blood-alcohol content higher than 0.20 were 20 times more likely to die.

 

In a coronial study of almost 3400 driver deaths during 1990-99, including 757 in WA, Professor Drummer found almost 30 per cent of victims recorded a blood-alcohol content above the legal limit.

 

A further 26 per cent tested positive for mind-altering ( psychotropic ) drugs, including 14 per cent who had recently used cannabis.

 

Other commonly detected drugs were opiates ( 4.4 per cent ), stimulants ( 3.8 per cent ) and benzodiazepines ( 3.6 per cent ).

 

Professor Drummer told the committee that drivers who used stimulants such as amphetamines were 2.3 times more likely than others to die.

 

the death rate was much higher ( 8.8 times ) among stimulant-using truck drivers.

 

interestingly, heroin use did not appear to be strongly linked to unsafe driving. Heroin users were 1.4 times more likely to die but those who had taken multiple mood-altering drugs were 5.4 times more likely to die.

 

The combination of alcohol and mood-altering drugs was particularly dangerous.

 

Professor Drummer's research appears to support moves by WA authorities, revealed last week, to investigate the possibility of testing drivers for drugs other than alcohol.

 

The WA Police Service has made preliminary inquiries about getting portable roadside saliva testing kits.

 

Victorian police are preparing to start a similar program.

 

And The West Australian understands that the Government's drink and drug driving task force has made a submission that legislation be drafted to help catch the rising number of people driving while affected by drugs.

[Dr Doug]

To Brainstorm you attitude of just pay the fine sums where you and I disagree.I will explain the reminder letter to you.The letter would simply have to say you didnt vote and if there is no response to it and a few following letters then you may be removed from the electoral role.Why does there have to be a fine attached? Why do you approve of the fine? Pipeman has said if Ozstoner was busted he would help because he is not short of a dollar.My guess is the fines wouldnt bother you guys for the same reason.Well where I grew up in Toowoomba quite a few people count every single cent literaly.My problem is that fines hit the poor the hardest.Aside from the taxes I paid the government I also helped elect Myself and my brother served in the reserves in the same unit at the same time.My father spent 28years in the regs.Two of my uncles were sergants in the airforce one of their sons is fixing f-18s at the moment.Grandfather was in the anzac core at the somme got shot but survived.Great-grandfather was an officer at Gallipoli was killed in WW2.That government works for the people.If they can send us to war so easily they can keep their non-voting fines and they can stay away from my license unless I does that endangers me or others on the road.Not voting doesnt endanger anyone.Thats what I mean by it being a right not a privelage.To urbanhog there will be a website for the cup with a debate room. I want to have an annual drug debate run in conjunction with the cup.Polies seem to take about 5 years between these things. Need help with setting it up if anyone interested e-mail me last time I had a computer a commodore 64 was brand new.I realy want to know how to get points added to my license are you sure about that Brainstorm?

[Dr Doug]

i think that driving around doing a few u-turns, a reverse park & basically shit all else is way to easy to get a licence to drive on the roads.

bring in mandatory advanced driving courses or something i say, make getting a drivers licenece harder than buying ciggarettes from the local shop.

my first instinct was to agree with you, but when I think about it IMO the driver's attitude/cautiousness is a much bigger safety factor thank driving skill.

 

When I first got my license i drove pretty conservatively, but after a period of time I got better skills and I suppose overconfident and did a lot of stupid driving, speeding, sliding in the wet, running red lights, weaving in heavy traffic, burnouts to pull u turns on narrow streets to name a few bad habits. So it was my attitude that was the problem, not my skill. I was fortunate to make it through that phase without having a single accident, but when I think back about it I was damn lucky.

 

So personally I would rather see unskilled cautious drivers on the road rather than skilled maniacs.

 

PS - One thing that is really pissing me off as of late is idiots who drive on high beam. Be OK if they passed you, but the fuckers just seem to want to sit on your tail with their lights in your mirrors.

Mandatory training for motorcycles licences dropped motorcyclye accidents for first year riders by up to 85%. Totaly agree with notgail. One of the main problems is driving treating cars like toys not with respect. Attitude/cautioun are key parts of driving but if you get into trouble on the road skill saves you not attitude. Attitude prevents you getting into trouble in the first place.

[BlackBeauty]

Absolutely - I've done an advanced driving course myself. Besides being an excellent chance to get to know how a car behaves when pushed the wrong way, it has lowered my insurance and I'm more ready to drive a twin-turbo now

 

@pipeman: my pet hate is idiots who drive in the left lane for reasons other than overtaking or turning right. :angry: specifically, the ones that sit there doing waaaay under the speed limit. i'll usually give those ppl a hard time and have gotten so angry over the past few years that i've considered doing silly things like carrying rotten fruit with me. naaaah.

 

anyway, it really gets up my nose. these ppl should go check out the roads in europe. they have no problems with keeping to the right (they drive on the other side), unless overtaking or turning. unlike the ppl i speak of here in melbourne, european drivers are responsible and courteous to others on the roads.

 

just this morning, i was driving along in the right lane and some slow-arsed dick turns out right in front of me and decides to sit on 60 in the right hand lane (hello? left lane is alllll yours buddy!). and it was an 80 zone. fark i get pissed off at these people.

 

/vent

[Dr Doug]

I had a motorcycle license for five years before I got my care license.Please check your blind spot before you change lanes.

[notgail]

urban - mmm... I better get off my arse and pay that long overdue fine for driving on "Bus Lane", yeah I drove on the "Bus Lane" trying to by-pass that damned traffic jam... gee I don 't what to know what will happen to me if I didn't pay that fine -

 

pay it urban or go to court to fight it and lose (and pay court costs on top)

 

I did 5 hours in the watchhouse for smoking a CIGARETTE not "pot" in a taxi. Cause I didn't pay the fine on the principle of the matter. Sit in the traffic for 12 hours a day behind diesel buses and trucks and it makes you wonder where they dig these laws up from.

 

Dr Dougie - almost wiped out a rider bout 20 years ago changing from right to left lane - in blind spot on left. Have never forgotten and I also keep waaaaay back off their arses too is another. Bit different with a rear ender when you hit a motor cycle to a car.

 

Black Beauty agree agree agree - another one that gets me (out of the many) is also when your doing over 100 k' overtaking and you go some f.... hotrod up your arse pushing ya when speeding anyway.

 

High beamers behind you - sorry but a trick I have used is to place your side mirror so it reflects straight back at them (but its a bit hard to work out unfortunately).

 

Trouble is they is no point getting raged over it cause you just get rid of one idiot when you come across another. And the point is WE ALL make mistakes at some point hopefully not a fatal one.

[BlackBeauty]

notgail, good tip for the high-beamers!

 

oh, and i know what you mean - being in the right lane and doing over the speed limit when some dickhead tailgates ya! what's the deal there - that's just plain rude and arrogant! :angry:

[pipeman]

notgail, good tip for the high-beamers!

 

oh, and i know what you mean - being in the right lane and doing over the speed limit when some dickhead tailgates ya!  what's the deal there - that's just plain rude and arrogant! :angry:

i don't think thats such a big deal, just lets the car in front know you're in a hurry and to get back in the left lane ASAP!

 

one of my pet peeves is idiots on high beam as well, and I've been noticing it more and more lately. The other thing I hate is pedestrians casually strolling across the road holding up the traffic with a green lift. Happened to me on the way home from work today and when this chick was right in front of me I jerked the car forward to give her a wakeup call...she must have jumped two feet in the air

 

speaking of bikes i was driving an F150 stuck bumper to bumper on the freeway once and a bike rider coming up between lanes wiped himself out on the passenger wing mirror. The guy got up, gave me the finger and rode off. I just laughed my ass off.

[boulder]

speaking of bikes i was driving an F150 stuck bumper to bumper on the freeway once and a bike rider coming up between lanes wiped himself out on the passenger wing mirror. The guy got up, gave me the finger and rode off. I just laughed my ass off.

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One of lifes sweeter moments.

[Dr Doug]

Why were you laughing? I would have made the prick pay for the mirror.It is legal to go between cars if you overtake on the right hand side of the car and dont exceed the speed limit and dont cross the white lines.Common sense does apply of course but there is nothing worse than sitting in bike boots and jacket on a hot day in traffic that aint moving.(if you only t-shirt on a bike get used to gravel rash.)

[Brainstorm]

hey dr doug, I was wondering where you read or told you that it was legal to ride between cars in that manner as I've been booked for doing exactly that?