Driving while high: Marijuana users twice as likely to crash, AAA study finds

[pongster]

i started to smoke ganja before i learned how to drive at 14, but i got very nervous when driving so i had to be high to be able to drive. i had a job involving driving all around my country, sometimes 1200 km in a day. always high.
my world is small, and i know only a few people, but in all my life i have only met one guy that could actually drive while high besides me; the rest are useless drivers.
so, i don't know, the article does have some truth to it.
best smokes

 

[White Beard]

This looks like the conservative Florida boys didn’t like the National AAA saying that the risk couldn’t justify the laws proposed against it...so they ordered up their own study with their own preferred outcome

 

[CaptainDankness]

Are people in this thread actually arguing that driving while high is OK? Sounds like it, but hard to believe that could be the case.

I've never been in an accident. even been pulled over speeding high the cop didn't suspect a thing.

 

[White Beard]

The national report from 2016 seems to no longer be on the AAA website

 

[West Aera]

Although that 'study' is silly and not much of a scientific study at all I absolutely think that cannabis can effect your ability to drive. Just like alcohol, having a beer or two isn't going to make you crash your car but if you have enough to alter your perception of what's around you and cause a difference in reaction times then it definitely will have an increase in risk

I've always found it funny because I see the same people who say the indicas they grow are so strong they make you slur your words and pass out where you're sitting after smoking too much and their sativas trip you out and give you noticeable visual distortions and make you sit there for 15 minutes laughing about nothing before realising you've just been laughing to yourself for quarter of an hour are the same people that say cannabis has 0 effect on your ability to drive

If you can get that high on weed it's obviously going to cause some difference to your reaction times and awareness. Just like all drugs, there's a limit

 

['Boogieman']

If I haven't smoked in weeks I get pretty high and don't drive, other than that I'm fine.

 

[RB56]

Those of us who go based on sound science yes and due to some peoples exp here who reported their experiences yes.... whats your argument against driving while stoned or high off cannabis? Would love to read your OPINION

I'm 63 and have consumed weed regularly and heavily since I was 13. Went for years driving high and never had an accident or even a close call. I was young and stupid and wasn't giving much thought to the harm I could have caused. Come to think of it, I spent 5 years driving a cab in Boston at night and was high for most of that.


If I was involved in an accident while I was high and killed someone, I would never have been able to say it wasn't my fault. The fact is, driving doesn't take all of anybody's skill, concentration and reflexes. Especially when we're young, there's plenty extra for emergencies - sudden urgency, no problem, plenty of time to respond. As we age (and I mean starting around 40), hear and vision become less acute, reflexes and mental analysis takes longer. Weed does the same thing. Put them together and you may be in a dangerous place. Arguments that cannabis makes one a better driver are absurd. Arguments that half the drivers are high on opioids, anti-depressants, LSD or McDonald's milkshakes are beyond the point.



Nobody really believes they drive as well high as sober. Weed enhances lots of things. Operating machinery with little margin for error isn't one of those things. Not worth the risk.

 

[armedoldhippy]

Nobody really believes they drive as well high as sober. Weed enhances lots of things. Operating machinery with little margin for error isn't one of those things. Not worth the risk.

i turn 62 this fall (if i make it, lol) and have been smoking since i was 11. anyone that ever got in a car with me will tell you i am a much safer driver when i have a buzz. part of that, no doubt, is that i am a type A personality son of a bitch when NOT buzzed. always in a hurry (get the fuck off of the road, you stupid bastard!) run through lights on yellow etc. burn one, and i am the old fucker in the slow lane that uses his signals & could care less if you pass me. just as not everyone can ride a unicycle or juggle, not everyone should drive high...a man has gotta know his limits.

 

[Guest]

I've been smoking n riding for over 25+ years. Never been in a wreck. Just dont drive n receive a bj at the same time, and you're gold

OP

I can vouch that it’s no biggie getting a hummer while driving. Those last few seconds can be tricky though.

 

[Emperortaima]

I'm 63 and have consumed weed regularly and heavily since I was 13. Went for years driving high and never had an accident or even a close call. I was young and stupid and wasn't giving much thought to the harm I could have caused. Come to think of it, I spent 5 years driving a cab in Boston at night and was high for most of that.


If I was involved in an accident while I was high and killed someone, I would never have been able to say it wasn't my fault. The fact is, driving doesn't take all of anybody's skill, concentration and reflexes. Especially when we're young, there's plenty extra for emergencies - sudden urgency, no problem, plenty of time to respond. As we age (and I mean starting around 40), hear and vision become less acute, reflexes and mental analysis takes longer. Weed does the same thing. Put them together and you may be in a dangerous place. Arguments that cannabis makes one a better driver are absurd. Arguments that half the drivers are high on opioids, anti-depressants, LSD or McDonald's milkshakes are beyond the point.



Nobody really believes they drive as well high as sober. Weed enhances lots of things. Operating machinery with little margin for error isn't one of those things. Not worth the risk.

I can fully respect your perception towards this topic because with said variables that could be worrisome

But for the most part i would say majority of crashes are due to incompetence like imbeciles using phones while driving or even driving high on pharma DOPE or even when people around my area drive drunk.... shit...my grandmas boyfriend does it (ex considering she passed away in 2015) so many variables in play but imo if one cannot handle cannabis like theyre newbies to the high or stone from the smoke vape or medibles should indeed stay away from driving but i dont believe it applies to those who drive on cannabis comfortably with plenty of experience because cannabis makes those very people much more cautious while driving

 

[Brother Nature]

Cannabis definitely makes me more patient with other drivers, I tend to have a puff or three on my drive home from work most days, but that is mostly to stave off the boardum of being stuck in stop and go traffic for an hour and a bit. I don't think I could say it makes me a better driver though, but it does make me a better person which in turn makes me a less resentful and frustrated driver. In saying that though, I never smoke when I go for a motorbike ride and if I'm at a track day or something I'd definitely never have a puff before a race. All in all though, I don't really know many people who care about stoned driving except the squares...

 

[White Beard]

Okay, so I *do* have to repeat myself...

Okay, so I *do* have to repeat myself...

I made those comments earlier today in a thread about how AAA’s Safety Foundation study found that the impact of people driving high was not a sufficient justification for laws against it.

Interesting piece, Shaggy - and props to AAA for having the guts to make that call: if TRIPLE-A says laws against driving stoned and impossible/meaningless, you can bet they’ve got the numbers nailed down. They’re putting the organization’s reputation and future on the line by doing this.

The conversation over “driving while cannabinated” seems to *always* break down into two points of view: new cannabists and old (experienced).

The argument of the new is that they get wobbly/floppy when the get high, and they think that would be A Bad Idea behind the wheel, they think it would be irresponsible to even make no comment on the topic.

The argument of the old is that with time and experience, one can genuinely master their cannabis use, to the point of doing complex and/or dangerous things - like driving, like cooking (hot things and sharp metal!), like weight lifting (requires attention and HEAVY), like going to class, like fixing or making things - not only safely but smoothly, elegantly, and with far greater attention than they’d have had available to them before they hit the pipe.

Both groups are right, and coming down with a full-body headrush behind the wheel is in fact a bad idea. Where the group breaks is where the new decide that the experienced are careless, lazy, inconsiderate, and dangerous. These folks haven’t got enough cannabinoids on the regular to even begin to understand that “getting” high isn’t even the point, BEING high is the point.

Once one begins to slack off on the rushes, one begins to get a sense of what being high is actually like. I find it to be an enormously productive and powerful state in many areas of life.

So much so, that given the choice between high and not, I’ll pretty much take high every time. I have raised solid, capable, achieving children, I have been a pillar of the community, I’ve had a handful of careers and am qualified for a half-dozen more, I am vibrantly healthy for my age (~70), I haven’t had an accident in more than 30 years, or a ticket. This is why I adjust my altitude before I leave and not on the way: I know I’m prone to those full-body headrushes I mentioned, because experience has taught me that, and I *know* beyond doubt I can’t drive while that’s going on...but I know when I’m good to go: locked into the groove of getting to Place A while displaying textbook driving skills.

I know for a fact I’m not alone in this at all: being high is a manageable and productive state for many people - maybe even most people here - once you get there.

Until then, if you’re going to get stoned, don’t drive, right?

 

[dddaver]

TWICE as likely? Ahh bullshit. That's enough right there. I'm not wasting my time plowing through their statistical horseshit.

 

[therevverend]

I think it was 7 or 8 years ago during the medical marijuana days the Washington State Patrol did a test. Gathered up a bunch of stoners and non-stoners. Got them to smoke a joint or two and then get behind the wheel and drive around a bunch of traffic cones.

I doubt anyone around here will find the results surprising. The stoners drove fine, obeyed the rules of the road and were careful to avoid the cones. The lightweights were wasted, even I get pretty high from a joint or two. They drove terribly.

This is similar to the findings when people taking prescription drugs are tested, when someone takes the same dose of medication every day they can drive fine if they're accustomed to it. If they aren't they drive terrible.

I've got to admit the other day I had a rough drive home. I smoked rosin for the first time along with a bunch of hashish and ganja. Then I spent all day in the sun getting dehydrated and dizzy. To the point I couldn't stand well and talk to people for an hour or two.

It had been well beyond the 4 hours, at least six since I'd puffed when I had to drive home and probably more like 8 since the rosin. I still had trouble spacing out at red lights, forgetting where I was. Closing my eyes would be a mistake. I had to concentrate real hard so I went go when the light turned green.

Other then that my coordination was fine, I was staying in my lane and avoiding the other cars. Just having to pay extra special attention to things like stop lights and speed limits. I wanted to take a nap at my friend's first but his brother was there and I didn't want to reveal how fucked up I really was. Got to love how cannabis can make a short ride home you've done dozens of times before a huge adventure.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Driving stoned makes me think about when I started driving as a kid. You're busy as shit with lots to do and pay attention to. Not enjoyable at all.

 

[Drewsif]

2 year tolerance breaks every 7 years, those first 3 days back, wow is that some bad data concerning daily use. But smoking tobacco in jail as a non tobacco user, the whoozie wobbles were even more debilitating behind the wheel of a strange work van than the Thai.

Og makes me a shitty driver. Distillate is like assassin weed, if killing was boring. The correct answer to everything is the most hated answer in the world: It depends.

 

[kalopatchkid]

I just re-read the article and looks like the author edited it.



She added a paragraph that cites a 2016 report that claims driving while "Cannabis IMPAIRED" doubles the risk of a car accident. As many have previously mentioned, there is a big difference between being casually high vs being impaired, especially for long time smokers.



AAA has already admitted there is no accurate way of quantifying a persons level of impairment by analyzing bloodstream levels, so it is inaccurate to make claims like "MARIJUANA USERS TWICE AS LIKELY TO CRASH" implying that all users are this way. Especially in the face of statistics like a 2% decrease in traffic fatalities in 2017 compared to 2016.

 

[Teddybrae]

Oh fukn oath! I 'm so fukn high that I can't even find the fukn steering wheel of my fukn car! but I got here somehow! Can't recall if I killed anyone on the way. that fukn Mango Haze I eat is so fukn strong I musta broke the land speed record on the way to here. Or did I just imagine that? Hard to tell seeing as I haven't got an inquiring scientific mind and a fukn drugged society to survey. Oh and I forgot: false confirmation bias!!!

 

[White Beard]

I had ONE ride like that: had never smoked hash before...it’s a miracle I got home in one piece...17 - never again (unless I’m being chased by no-shit aliens)

 

[PDX Dopesmoker]

I think it was 7 or 8 years ago during the medical marijuana days the Washington State Patrol did a test. Gathered up a bunch of stoners and non-stoners. Got them to smoke a joint or two and then get behind the wheel and drive around a bunch of traffic cones.

I doubt anyone around here will find the results surprising. The stoners drove fine, obeyed the rules of the road and were careful to avoid the cones. The lightweights were wasted, even I get pretty high from a joint or two. They drove terribly.

This is similar to the findings when people taking prescription drugs are tested, when someone takes the same dose of medication every day they can drive fine if they're accustomed to it. If they aren't they drive terrible.

I've got to admit the other day I had a rough drive home. I smoked rosin for the first time along with a bunch of hashish and ganja. Then I spent all day in the sun getting dehydrated and dizzy. To the point I couldn't stand well and talk to people for an hour or two.

It had been well beyond the 4 hours, at least six since I'd puffed when I had to drive home and probably more like 8 since the rosin. I still had trouble spacing out at red lights, forgetting where I was. Closing my eyes would be a mistake. I had to concentrate real hard so I went go when the light turned green.

Other then that my coordination was fine, I was staying in my lane and avoiding the other cars. Just having to pay extra special attention to things like stop lights and speed limits. I wanted to take a nap at my friend's first but his brother was there and I didn't want to reveal how fucked up I really was. Got to love how cannabis can make a short ride home you've done dozens of times before a huge adventure.

If you're falling asleep because you had a huge dose of THC hours previous that wearing off and you're full of secondary metabolites, then the quickest and easiest way back to attentiveness is to smoke more weed. THC can become a strong sedative as it wears off, you're already aware of that, you were just so high that you were thinking of something else and the obvious solution to your problem didn't occur to you.