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New federal report on drugs and driving – what does this mean for Virginia drivers?

Drivers in Virginia can get in trouble with the law for being under the influence of alcohol or under the influence of drugs while behind the wheel. However, drug use by drivers is not a target of law enforcement nearly as often as alcohol use by drivers.

The main challenge is that there is no established concentration of drug components in the body that indicate a person is impaired from drug use. Drugs can affect individuals differently, and there is no observational or scientific agreement on what constitutes impairment for different drugs. There are also many different drugs with the potential to cause impairment, which makes the issue even more challenging.

The federal government, in an effort to shine a brighter light on the issue of drug use and driving, has recently released a report that examines drug use by deceased drivers in fatal crashes. The report was compiled from data gathered by different states in the U.S., including whether or not the deceased driver was tested, what type of testing was done, and the test results.

Again, since there is no standardization in what testing methods are used, which drugs are tested for, or what results indicate intoxication by a given substance the results are not as useful as they are when this information is gathered for alcohol intoxication.

What was interesting to officials at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was the apparent increase in the percentage of deceased drivers who had some kind of drug in their system. (Drugs in the report include narcotics, depressants, hallucinogens, stimulants, cannabinoids, PCPs, anabolic steroids, inhalants – all prescription, over-the-counter, or illegal drugs.)

This means that over time, a greater percentage of drivers are killed in auto accidents with drugs in there system. However, there is no way to know if the deceased drivers’ drug use had anything to do with the accidents, however the trend is troubling to some.

However, troubling or not these findings in no way end the debate over drug use and driving. There is still no way to say that a given accident definitely happened because a driver was under the influence of drugs at the time of the crash. It is very likely that many of these crashes were caused by the usual reasons: driver distraction, aggressive driving, drowsy driving, and the like.

Are you facing charges stemming from drug (including alcohol) use while you were driving? Please contact our Norfolk office today for experienced, aggressive defense of your case.

Fill out our online contact form or call our Norfolk office toll-free at (800) 690-0235 or locally at (757) 622-7740.




Michael S. Weisberg, P.C.
112 College Place
Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone: (757) 622-7740
Fax: (757) 533-9223
Toll Free: (800) 690-0235
Email: info@weislaw.com
www.weislaw.com