Drug-impaired Driving National Rx Drug Abuse Summit 4-12-12

1. CLAAD & Safe BTW
National Dialogue on
Drug-Impaired Driving
April 10-12, 2012
Walt Disney World Swan Resort

2. Policy Goals
• Identifying Drug-Impaired Drivers
• Distinguishing mere medication use from
actual cognitive impairment.

3. Statistics
Drug-impaired driving can have fatal
consequences:
• In 2009, 13,801 drivers who died in car crashes
tested positive for drugs.
• 63% of all tested drivers who died in car crashes
tested positive for drug use.
• A California study found 1 in every 10 people
killed in car crashes was drug-impaired.

4. Dangers of
Drug-Impaired Driving
• Drivers ignore labels warning against operating heavy
machinery.
• Driving after taking medication affects the brain.
• Medications can impair judgment, motor skills,
perception, and memory.
• Drivers, passengers, and others on the road are at risk.

5. Prevention: DUID Laws
All states have DUID statutes. Most states use one
of three types of drugged-driving laws:
1. Statutes requiring driver to be incapable of driving safely (14
states);
2. Statutes requiring driver to be under the influence or affected
by an intoxicating drug (8 states); and
3. Per se or zero tolerance statutes. (17 states)
5 states prohibit any addicted person or habitual
user to drive at all.

6. DUID Law Defenses
• 20 states: valid prescription is not legal defense.
• 5 states: valid prescription as long as used as
directed is legal defense.
• Maryland: valid prescription is legal defense if
defendant was unaware of drug s effect.

7. Statutes with Subjective
Standards
DUID Statutes contain subjective standards:
• Incapacity : connection between drug ingestion and
the incapacity of the driver
• Under the influence : impairment is directly related to
drug ingestion
• Per se : drug is in the driver s system.
• Determination of drug use based on blood, urine, saliva,
or other bodily fluid tests.

8. Prevention: Common Law
States have also developed common law doctrines to
prevent drug-impaired driving.
– Massachusetts: liability for physicians for failure to warn
against driving if such failure results in third-party death.
– Alabama: imposed liability on a Methadone Clinic for
administering methadone and releasing a patient who
killed a third party while driving.

9. Prevention: Common Law
• Florida: Judge will suspend drivers licenses for
using oxycodone.
• Patients are responsible for obtaining a doctor s
letter.
• Prescribers are at a greater risk for liability.

10. Drug-Impaired Laws Lag Behind
Alcohol-Impaired Laws
• Drugged-driving laws lag behind alcohol-impaired
driving law.
• Why?
– Technological limitations in testing.
– No agreed-upon impairment limit.
– Drugs linger in the body.

11. Current Methods of Identifying
Impaired Drivers
Drug Recognition and Classification Programs (DEC)
• 49 states and D.C. have Drug Evaluation and
Classification Programs.
• DREs receive training to identify drug-impaired drivers and
determine the drug category.
• Programs rely on observations.
• Categories are based on signs and symptoms.

12. Current Methods of Identifying
Impaired Drivers
Blood and Urine Testing
• 34 states test blood, urine, saliva, or other bodily
substances.
• 8 states allow blood only.
• 6 states permit saliva.
• 8 states permit other bodily substances.

13. Problems with Drug Evaluation
and Classification Programs
• Drug Evaluation and Classification Programs lack
scientific precision.
• Blood and urine tests cannot determine whether
drivers were actually impaired while driving.

14. What can we do?
• Encourage states to adopt clearer standards for Per Se
laws;
• Collect additional data on drug-impaired driving;
• Prevent drug-impaired driving by educating communities
and professionals;
• Provide increased training to law enforcement on
identifying drug-impaired drivers; and
• Develop standard methodologies for drug-testing labs to
use in detecting the presence of drugs.
• Encourage prescribers to help by recognizing patients
with substance-abuse problems and developing
strategies with their patients to overcome such problems.

15. Suggestions?
What preventative strategies do you think would
help with the following issue?
• Identify impaired drivers.
• Distinguish mere medication use from actual
cognitive impairment.
• Incentivize individuals to refrain from driving
while drug-impaired.

16. For More Information on Drug-
Impaired Driving
Contact:
Paul Scott O Neill, CLAAD Policy Advisor
(703) 527-4550
pso@claad.org
www.claad.org
Stacey Sklaver, Safe BTW Policy Advisor
(703) 527-8800
sls@safebtw.org
www.safebtw.org