Posted on 05/15/2021 3:36:38 AM PDT by fwdude
According to a AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety survey published in 2019, nearly 70% of Americans think it’s unlikely a driver will get caught by police for driving while high on marijuana.
Additionally, 14.8 million drivers report getting behind the wheel within one hour after using marijuana in the 30 days before they took the survey.
Since Washington state passed Initiative 502 to legalize recreational marijuana, rates of drivers under the influence of cannabis and involved in fatal collisions have risen at an alarming rate.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattleweekly.com ...
Umm. You might want to research some of the effects of marijuana on the pupils. Singlasses are a must for weed smokers for a reason.
The citizens and/or legislatures of these states have passed a law that has effectively made some forms of impaired driving impossible to regulate. So now their roads are more dangerous because stoned drivers are getting involved in crashes at alarming rates.
Cry me a river.
I have a better idea: Let's get rid of ALL laws against impaired driving, and simply have the motor vehicle codes of these states stand on their own.
If you drive through a red light and cause a horrific crash that kills someone, then it shouldn't matter if you are stoned, drunk, texting, sleeping, or just plain 'effing stupid. The law should treat you based on what you did, not why you did it.
Full disclaimer: I work in a field where traffic safety is one of my main areas of responsibility.
Unexpectedly!
Lets do a comparison of drivers stoned on pot and drivers driving while DUI under opioid influence legally prescribed by their DEA approved doctor.
“only cars with an autopilot are allowed on the streets and highways.”
That will happen in the next 20 years for highway driving. All cars on the highway will be required to be computer (AI) control.
The bottom line is States don’t care if there is increased carnage on the road due to drug use. They’re all raking in huge tax revenues thru selling drugs to the public.
States now run three out of four of the traditional forms of income for organized crime.
1. Protection racket.
2. Numbers racket.
3. Drugs.
4. Prostitution rings. (It’s probably just a matter of time on this one.)
When we lived in FL, we had a guy drive through our and our neighbor’s front yard, taking down the shrubs and fences. He made it back on the road, kept going and hit a light pole down the road. Drunken oblivion. A stoner would have hit the curb, freaked out, corrected and gone real slow the rest of the way.
Someone who’s drunk has no sense of speed and often end up going 100 mph without ever knowing it. Stoned, not so much.
Both will dull your reaction time.
Drunk can give you double vision. Stoned? no.
In either case, someone made the decision to get into the car and go somewhere while impaired.
My neighbor was a trucker. He’s dead now because he made the decision to drive while sleepy.
In any case, just like prescription drugs, you know how something affects you and you make decisions beforehand. If I take Benadryl, I’m not going anywhere and I make that decision before I take it. Can’t take Sudafed period.
I don’t drink hard liquor. Tried it a few times and decided it ain’t for me. I’ve known people who could smoke pot like it was nothing and it didn’t affect them much. Some people smoke a little bit and it hits them hard.
Know thyself.
Finally a media outlet has come out with the truth about the consequences of marijuana legalization. I’ve been saying the best answer for why you shouldn’t can be found with Diane Schuler. People don’t listen, people get killed, and I’m stuck with having to say SITYS.
Our fearless leaders passed these laws with not a word about making people take responsibility for their actions. This was with full knowledge and awareness.
They are fully responsible for the increased number of accidents by potheads.
Sounds like a fun time trying to document impairment in a way that will withstand the inevitable wrongful termination suit. Employers will have to become sobriety test experts.
...”we need a federal standard for what constitutes impairment behind the wheel.”
Now that’s a “May GOD HELP US” declaration. Here’s hoping we never see another new federal standard. The truth is not in them and they have politically forked tongues.
My generation loves their weed. I used to counsel their sons and daughters who did the stuff and suffered for it. A wise man once told the addicts, “I don’t give a damn if pot is addictive, you will do nothing but eat Cheetos and watch cartoons a lot of the time.”
If an individual has a perfect driving record after 5 years with a license, he should be allowed to purchase an annual waiver [maybe fee of $100.00] that allows him to imbibe responsibly while driving responsibly. If any moving violation occurs while in posession of wavier, the wavier is revoked and an appropriate penalty for the infraction is applied.
In context, that study found "driving after having enough alcohol to be over the legal limit (approximately 10%) was more common than driving after using marijuana (6.5%)" (https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2019-Traffic-Safety-Culture-Index.pdf).
I won't hold my breath waiting for the Reefer Madness brigade here to proclaim that the legality of the impairing drug alcohol is a disaster.
According to another AAA Foundation survey, the estimated percentage of drivers involved in fatal crashes who were THC-positive in Washington state rose to 21.4 percent by 2017.
That study looked at ANY level of THC - and used "multiple imputation" to draw conclusions about the majority of drivers, 69%, who were not tested (https://aaafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/19-0637_AAAFTS-WA-State-Cannabis-Use-Among-Drivers-in-Fatal-Crashes_r4.pdf).
That is precisely my thought on the matter. Once we start penalizing people on the basis of what we think they might do, we’ve opened a nasty can of worms. In a post above I suggested a purchased waiver for good drivers that allows them to imbibe and drive at will. Use the fee for improvements related to traffic flow.
“Since Washington state passed Initiative 502 to legalize recreational marijuana, rates of drivers under the influence of cannabis and involved in fatal collisions have risen at an alarming rate.”
Cool, man.
“If you drive through a red light and cause a horrific crash that kills someone, then it shouldn’t matter if you are stoned, drunk, texting, sleeping, or just plain ‘effing stupid. The law should treat you based on what you did, not why you did it.”
Certainly when I was younger I could have quite a few rounds of ‘liquid fire’ and still drive the pants off of most adults. Of course there’s a limit and age has effects...but still, I think a reasonable defense against a DUI might be to get into a simulator to see if you can meet the minimum competency for driving in an ‘impaired’ condition. If so, then no DUI. Many lives have been ruined by what is a ‘political standard’ regarding alcohol levels, when the real hazard takes a lot more drinking.
Also, I think DUI tickets should be outlawed in any city that either prohibits Uber or drives their price up to taxi-type levels.
“Recreational marijuana users can’t pass standard drug testing required for a huge spectrum of employment”
Should government make it a criminal offense to render oneself less employable? I say Hell no.
“If we’re gonna go the legalization route, God help us, we need a federal standard for what constitutes impairment behind the wheel.”
How would that make driving while high more easily prosecutable?
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