artificial ballywho

From these results...

Even after accounting for factors such as the age of the drivers and the condition of the vehicle, the researchers conclude that cannabis caused a significant number of the fatalities, with 2.5% of the crashes directly attributed to cannabis use. Alcohol was the direct cause of about 29%.

Using cannabis and alcohol together was 16 times more risky than driving with neither drug in their body.

...come startling recommendations...

“These shocking results prove beyond doubt the dangers of drug-driving, and of mixing drink and drugs before getting behind the wheel,” says Mary Williams, chief executive of Brake, the UK’s national road safety charity.

“We need to see the government doing targeted, prime-time TV advertising on the issue of drug-driving, and we desperately need to see drink- and drug-driving being discussed with young people as part of a compulsory health and safety curriculum at school and during novice driver training," she adds. "We also need to see a national roll out of roadside drugs-testing by the police to catch drug-drivers before they kill or injure innocent road users."

...ignoring the far more significant factors...

The researchers found it was younger drivers, more often male and driving older cars, mopeds or motorcycles, who were most likely to have taken cannabis. A total of 681 drivers tested positive for cannabis (7% of all the drivers in the study), while 2096 drivers illegal concentrations of alcohol in their bodies (21.4%).

...and replacing reasonable alarm with hysteria.


[forty-eighth in a series]