San Francisco and the Bay Area generally has one of the more liberal and permissive cultures in the United States. It is hardly surprising that medical marijuana use is widely practiced in the Bay Area, but there are many critics that contend the use of medical marijuana has caused a spike in the number of drug impaired car accidents in California. The number of drivers that are operating motor vehicles under the influence of marijuana is on the rise according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that more drivers are taking to the roads while under the influence of a wide range of drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, oxycodone and other illegal drugs, but the prevalence of drivers under the influence of marijuana has been more significant. Based on a recent review by the NHTSA of data from random checks, approximately 17 percent of all drivers are under the influence of some form of drug while driving. Marijuana accounts for half of those cases of “stoned driving.”
California Highway Patrol crash data indicates that approximately a thousand people per year are injured or die in California car accidents involving drivers impaired by drugs. CHP officials have indicated that the rapid rise in drug related car accidents during the last decade has been a direct result of the widespread use of medical marijuana. CHP data reveals that car accidents involving drugged drivers who had not consumed alcohol jumped by a whopping 55 percent during a ten year period ending in 2009.
The accident risks associated with medical marijuana are compounded by certain differences between alcohol and marijuana when it comes to driving. Any driver who has a .08 percent blood alcohol concentration (BAC) may be convicted of drunk driving, but there is no comparable threshold for presuming that someone is impaired by marijuana. This makes it harder for drivers to determine whether the amount of marijuana that they have used makes it unsafe to drive. This also makes it more difficult to prosecute drivers for driving under the influence of drugs, which means that the criminal penalties have less of a deterrent effect. Enforcement of drugged driving laws is also complicated by the fact that a driver may test positive for having metabolites in one’s blood even though no marijuana has been ingested for several days.
If you were injured by a driver impaired by drugs including medical marijuana, we invite you to contact The Law Office of Ian Zimmerman for your free initial consultation with an experienced San Francisco car accident lawyer. We are open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., speak Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and are available for weekend, evening, home and hospital meetings and visits. We also offer free initial consultations and work exclusively on a contingency fee basis so that you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.
Call (800) 266-5000 to speak with an experienced California auto accident lawyer about your case today.