Crashes on the rise in Colorado, other states where marijuana is legal, highway safety study finds
Crashes have increased by up to 6 percent in
But officials caution that it’s difficult to directly link crashes to marijuana use because testing is infrequent and inconsistent — and the amount of marijuana in a person’s system doesn’t necessarily relate to impairment.
“Despite the difficulty of isolating the specific effects of marijuana impairment on crash risk, the evidence is growing that legalizing its use increases crashes,”
The frequency of claims per insured vehicle year rose a combined 6 percent after the start of retail sales of recreational marijuana in
Retail sales of recreational marijuana began in
The analysis is based on collision loss data from
A separate study examined police-reported crashes from 2012 to 2016 before and after retail sales began in
The
“The size of the effect varied by state,” the release says. “Although the study controlled for several differences among the states, the models can’t capture every single difference. For example, marijuana laws in
But the 5.2 percent increase in police-reported crash rates after legalization of recreational marijuana use is consistent with the 6 percent increase in insurance claim rates estimated by HLDI.
The number of highway deaths involving
The reason for this seeming contradiction: Marijuana can remain in the bloodstream for weeks, so a positive blood test may not mean a driver was stoned at the time of a deadly crash.
Gov.
Last year, 648 people died in crashes across
Hickenlooper emphasized the importance of gathering accurate data despite the expense involved.
“We need to measure whether people have marijuana in their systems,” he said.
The blood test for marijuana use costs
When someone is suspected of driving drunk and having used marijuana, often authorities will only test for impairment from alcohol because its cheaper and sufficient for a DUI charge.
State officials don’t have the authority to tell local municipalities how to test drivers, Hickenlooper said.
“The state offered to pay the local municipalities — they are the ones who more often than not investigate highway fatalities, it’s not the state troopers that decide who gets a blood test,” he said. “They say, ‘We don’t care.’”
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