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Drug and Driving: A Compendium of Research Studies
Annotated Sources (cont'd)
United States (cont'd)
63. Logan, B. K., and Schwilke, E. W. (1996). Drug and alcohol use in fatally injured drivers in Washington State. Journal of Forensic Sciences 41(3): 505-510.
Overview
Study of fatally injured drivers in Washington state
Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested
Fatally injured drivers who died within 4 hours of collision (n=318)
Time period of September 1992 to August 1993
Drugs examined
Method of testing and medium used
Blood sample and, when available, urine
Other dependent variables
None
Findings (including statistical methods)
64. Logan, B. K., and Schwilke, E. W. (2004). Changing patterns of alcohol and drug use in fatally injured drivers in Washington State 1992-2002. In J. Oliver, P. Williams and A. Clayton (Eds), Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (CD). Glasgow: Scottish Executive.
Overview
Study of fatally injured drivers in Washington state
Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested
Fatally injured drivers who died within 4 hours of crash (n=370)
Time period from February 1, 2001 to January 31, 2002
Drugs examined
Method of testing and medium used
Blood and serum samples
Other dependent variables
Findings (including statistical methods)
Presence of methamphetamine increased from 2% to 5% between 1992 and 2002
65. Maio, R. F., Guthrie, S. K., Hill, E. M., Gregor, M., Waller, P. F., and Blow, F. C. (2000). Benzodiazepine, alcohol and other drug use among injured motor vehicle crash drivers. In: Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine, pp. 505-507. Des Plaines, IL: Association of the Advancement of Automotive Medicine.
Overview
Study of alcohol and drug use among motor vehicle crash victims in Michigan
Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested
Motor vehicle crash victims (in Michigan)
708 frozen serum samples from a previous study were used
Time period not mentioned
Drugs in question (threshold values for detection)
Method of testing and medium used
Breath for alcohol and blood for drugs
Other dependent variables
Sex, age, injury severity, crash severity, type of crash, and culpability
Findings (including statistical methods)
66. Soderstrom, C.A., Kearns, T.J., Kufera, J.A. and Dischinger, P.C. (2002) Alcohol and drug use among a large cohort of injured vehicular occupants and pedestrians treated in a trauma center. In: D.R. Mayhew and C. Dussault (Eds) Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety. Quebec: Société de l’Assurance Automobile du Québec.
Overview
Study of vehicle occupants reporting to a trauma centre in Maryland
Type of study, population(s) and proportion tested
N=9,947 vehicle occupants reporting to trauma centers in Maryland from 1996 through 2000
(a further 1,547 pedestrians but not reported here)
98% tested for alcohol
47.4% tested for drugs (urine)
61% male
Drugs examined (threshold values for detection)
Method of testing and medium used
Gas-liquid chromatograph for alcohol
Urine tested by enzyme immunoassay for drugs
Other dependent variables
Sex, age
Findings (including statistical methods)
Comments
No indication of how many occupants tested were drivers
Urine tests indicative of use, not necessarily impairment
67. Townsend, T. N., Lane, J., Dewa, C. S., and Brittingham, A. (1998). Driving After Drug or Alcohol Use: Findings from the 1996 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Washington: NHTSA.
Overview
Study of random sample of drivers in the USA interviewed about drug use and driving
Population(s) and proportion tested (including type of study)
N=11,847
In-home personal interviews of drivers who reported driving a vehicle at least once within the last 12 months before the interview
Drivers were 16 and older and were NHSDA respondents
Drivers questioned about driving following the intake of drugs or alcohol
Time period of 1996
Drugs examined (threshold values for detection)
Method of testing and medium used
Interview
Other dependent variables
See below
Findings (including statistical methods)
28% reported driving within 2 hours of using drugs or alcohol (5% after drug use, with or without alcohol, and 23% after alcohol use only)
Those who drove after drug use tended to be younger, male, single, unemployed, and had been arrested or on probation
Marijuana most common illicit drug used by those who reported driving after drug use
These people tended to be heavy or weekly users within the last year and, those 21 and older, were more likely to report driving after taking marijuana in combination with alcohol
The majority (84%) of those who used sedatives or tranquilizers drove after taking them for medicinal purposes, compared to 43% of those who took stimulants for medical purposes
Driving after drug use tended to be on smaller, urban roads, on weekends, and between 6 pm and 11:59 pm
