A frightening new study reveals that younger drivers seem linked at the hip to marijuana and alcohol. The study looked at car accidents in which teen or younger drivers were involved in a fatal wreck. The study focused in on states that perform routine toxicology tests in the wake of a fatal car accident.
What the study found is that an alarming number of these teenage drivers were under the influence of marijuana or alcohol at the time of their fatal crash. Roughly 36.8 percent of the teens in study tested positive for just alcohol. Another 5.9 percent of them tested positive for just marijuana. And another 7.6 percent were found to have both substances in their system. All told, 50.3 percent of teen or younger drivers in this study who got into a fatal crash were either drunk or high.
It’s an astonishing figure, and it captures a startling truth — far too many teens and younger drivers are getting behind the wheel with the attitude of “it doesn’t matter what I’ve put in my body, I can drive without a problem.” Clearly, this is a dangerous thought process is far from correct.
Driving under the influence of illicit substances puts you and others who share the road with you at a greater risk of being involved in a car accident. Not only that, but by using illicit substances and then driving in this way, you can make yourself liable for the damages that you cause in a car accident.
Source: Yahoo! News, “Half of Teen, Young Adult Car Crash Deaths Involve Pot or Alcohol,” Stephanie Pappas, Live Science, Jan. 13, 2015