By admin Dr. Dalal Akoury July 10, 2014

Drug Addiction and transport Sector-Deaths on the road

We are privileged to be move from place to place in real time bringing the convenience of movement home thanks to the ever increasing development in technology and mordantly. As we appreciate this achievement a lot of people who have been entrusted with the lives of people they transport have allowed themselves to be controlled by lethal substances causing them not to be fully in control of these machines while on the road and as a result cause serious damage to the lives of people and properties. I am talking about the reckless driving by those drives under the influence of drugs. Statistics has established that no single day will pass without life being lost on our roads and majority of these deaths are directly associated with drunk driving. This devastating finding of drunk driving is therefore going to form the basis of our discussion in this article and since you are a regular user of our roads kindly take some time and stay on the link to get facts of this menace.

It goes without saying that alcohol is one of the most abused substances by drivers and even pedestrians on our roads and streets the world over. For instance findings from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) National Roadside Survey states that more than 16% of weekend, nighttime drivers tested positive for illegal prescription, or over-the-counter (OTC) medications 11% tested positive for illegal drugs. In 2009, 18% of fatally injured drivers tested positive for at least one illegal drug, prescription or over-the-counter). As if that is not enough a study conducted by Monitoring the Future (MTF) established that for every 12 high school student allowed to drive 1 is reported to be driving under the influence of a drug especially alcohol and marijuana.

Drug Addiction and transport Sector-Number of Deaths

This kind of behavior is what causes deaths on our roads you can imagine if school going children are already deeply involved in drug taking what kind of future are we looking forth to? Your guess is as good as mine. Let me continue giving you some statistics that resonate the magnitude of the problem of drunk driving in 2009, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reported that 3,952 fatally injured drivers tested positive for drug involvement. Taking this as an example let’s say that each of this drivers were carrying 30 passengers and of the 30 and they all die it would then mean that we have lost 118,560 lives on our roads and the most painful thing is that these deaths are related drugs and specifically alcohol.

These statistics begs answers to the most common question people normally ask almost every time death occur on our roads that what are the authorities doing about it. While it is true that something is being done this question will not just go away until such time that our drivers will be more responsible for the lives of their passengers. We know that despite a drug’s potentially lethal effects when driving, efforts have not been made in drugged driving laws as it has been with alcohol-related driving legislation due to the restrictions of technology for establishing specific levels of impairment based on levels of the drugs in the system. However revealing of alcohol, through technology is one element that has achieved a lot. The development of a very effective and sophisticated means of measuring the blood alcohol content (BAC) and level of impairment is such achievement. But as for other drugs other than alcohol, no such agreed upon standard like the BAC has been reliably confirmed.

Drug Addiction and transport Sector-Legal Response to Drugged Driving:

One of the most effective measures to have been taken was in 1988 where the Department of Transportation responsible for commercial drivers, airline pilots and train engineers introduces the per se standard for illegal drug use where any indication of recent illegal drug use was considered be a violation of the law. This was a step bold enough and since then many states globally have adopted this “per se” laws, so that it is illegal to drive a motor vehicle if there is any detectable level of a prohibited drug or its metabolites in the driver’s blood. Even though this (per se) standard is not a measure of impairment, it is an indicator of illegal driving behavior.

Drug Addiction and transport Sector-Drug Evaluation and Classification

As a measure to bringing sanity in the public transport sector and also to reduce the levels of drunk driving, many states are beginning to implement drug regulation and classification programs objectively to train the police officers to be the drug recognition experts. Under this program police officers are educated on specific detection skills based on the characteristics in a person’s appearance and behaviors which may be associated with drug intoxication. With this knowledge when the officer suspects the driver is under the influence of any drug or an element of drug intoxication the office request for a blood or urine sample to be taken from the suspect and be submitted to a laboratory for an examination and confirmation of the suspicion and appropriate action taken depending on the result.

Drug Addiction and transport Sector-Drugged Driving is Hazardous

As mention above many lives are lost on our roads and studies have established that majority of deaths are as a result of the driver being intoxicated with a given drug and this is not any news anyone would want to listen to often. Those risking the lives of others by taking drugs and still insist to drive must take note that drugs are substances which acts negatively on the brain and central nervous system thereby affecting ones driving skills. These drugs affect the brain differently and are very hazardous depending on how they are used, the amount consumed, the history of the user, and other factors. To get the effects of these drugs better let us discus some the effects related to these drugs as follows:

Drug Addiction and transport Sector-Drugs Affect Driving Skills

Coordination: Effects on nerves/muscles steering, braking, accelerating, manipulation of vehicle. With drugs in the system the driver will not be able to effectively control the vehicle.
Reaction time: Insufficient response & reaction
Judgment: Cognitive effects, risk reduction, avoidance of potential hazards, anticipation, risk-taking behavior, inattention, decreased fear, exhilaration and loss of control
Tracking: Staying in lane, maintaining distance
Attention: Divided, not focused. High demand for information processing is severely affected
Perception: Over 90% of information processed by our brain while driving is visual. Frown resistance and recovery, dark and light adaptation, dynamic visual acuity all are negatively impacted by drug use.

Finally dear reader, the safety of our roads is a collective responsibility to all of us we have discussed the conducts of the drivers but what about the conduct of the pedestrians and passengers? Knowledge is power and addiction to any drug is taking the first lane of destruction. You can avoid this by talking to the experts for help. Dr. Dalal Akoury the Founder of AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center is one and very knowledgeable in the discipline of addiction she has been of great help to many people the world over and you and your family/friends will benefit from her exclusive NER Recovery Treatment to help you regain normalcy in the best and more professional way. Be the best you can with doctor Akoury.