Massdriver Posted October 19, 2018 Share Posted October 19, 2018 Quote The Highway Loss Data Institute study focused on collision claims between 2012 and October 2017, and compared against four control states where marijuana remains illegal: Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming. A separate study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety focused on police-reported crashes before and after retail marijuana was allowed found Colorado, Oregon and Washington saw a 5.2 percent increase in the rate of crashes per million vehicle registrations, compared with neighboring states. "States exploring legalizing marijuana should consider this effect on highway safety," said David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and Highway Loss Data Institute, in a statement. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/10/19/car-crashes-up-states-legal-marijuana-studies-show/1693567002/ https://www.nj.com/marijuana/2018/10/car_crashes_rose_in_states_after_they_legalized_ma.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mclumber1 Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 They were all low speed crashes probably. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SimpleG Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 4 states saw more car crashes after marijuana was legalized. Is weed to blame? Despite showing an increase in crashes after legalization, the studies were unable to show that the presence of legal marijuana was a factor in the jump in accidents. "We can't directly conclude cause and effect here," said Russ Rader, spokesman for the IIHS and HLDI, which conducted the studies. "We don't know how many drivers in crashes in these states actually consumed (marijuana)." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 33 minutes ago, mclumber1 said: They were all low speed crashes probably. I'm all seriousness, I want to know what the distribution of severity of the crashes looked like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massdriver Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 20 minutes ago, Jason said: I'm all seriousness, I want to know what the distribution of severity of the crashes looked like. I was pretty sure the last study I saw on this a year or two ago showed that fatal car crashes had not increased in Colorado. It will be interesting to see when the next follow-up is on that. The argument against relying just on fatal car crash data is I don't think it adjusts for yearly advances in vehicles safety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentbob Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 I know they will be studying us Canadians closely on this. Top news story for Toronto was over a SUV brushing against a tanker and flipping rolling on its side for 300m. Driver apparently got out mostly unharmed, screaming and laughing. They don’t know yet if it were alcohol, weed or other drugs. You wonder with the increase in opioid use was ever brought into consideration/factored into their state studies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedSoxFan9 Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Car insurance companies probably want more money Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 26 minutes ago, Massdriver said: I was pretty sure the last study I saw on this a year or two ago showed that fatal car crashes had not increased in Colorado. It will be interesting to see when the next follow-up is on that. The argument against relying just on fatal car crash data is I don't think it adjusts for yearly advances in vehicles safety. I was thinking something like the speed at which the crashes occurred, not the fatality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massdriver Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 2 hours ago, Jason said: I was thinking something like the speed at which the crashes occurred, not the fatality. I don't recall seeing any evidence that breaks it down by speed, but I would love to see that break down too. The fatal crash data is interesting because it does give you an idea of the severity of the accidents. That would be an interesting dynamic if fatal crashes were dropping as accidents overall were increasing. I'm a little skeptical of these studies and would like to see more evidence. They do not prove causality, and I would like to see the trend replicated over longer periods of time and as more states legalize it. If I accept that marijuana legalization caused car crashes to go up 6%, my first reaction is that while this certainly goes in the con column on legalization (there are a lot of things in the pro column that outweigh the cons), the 6% increase isn't all that dramatic. A more concerning study would be that car crashes tripled in legalization states. It doesn't seem completely outlandish that car accidents would go up somewhat given that young adult usage has gone up some in these states and marijuana impairment doubles to triples car crash risk over baseline according to a review of the evidence from the National Academy of Sciences (by comparison, alcohol increases car crash risk 8-15 fold). I do cautiously support developing an accurate saliva test, if that's possible, that detects high levels of impairment from recent marijuana use. My main concern is I don't want it detecting someone that used cannabis over 3 hours ago. I think it would get more law enforcement officers on board and the opposition would lose a talking point. It also may help deter marijuana users from driving after using it. Hopefully people remember how many aren't getting arrested and jailed that would have been under prohibition while organized crime is no longer getting as much money as the states rake in some tax revenue. Also this and this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silentbob Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Yeah the saliva test isn’t very accurate and some prime ministers (Doug Ford) Isn’t a fan of them because of the inaccuracies in the results. My friend has been smoking weed for over 10 years and is a wake and baker. I don’t encourage people doing it but he said he would rather see a person high on the road than a drunk on the road. Which brings it back to what Jason was saying about the speed involved in these crashes. The reason why my friend would rather see a high driver on the road is because of the paranoia the drug would bring out in the person. He says they would be more cautious because of the paranoia and would cause them to drive slower/more cautiously. Compare to a drunk driver who would be less alert/carefree of their surroundings. I can’t argue against it and can’t argue for it either, but he might be right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Massdriver Posted October 20, 2018 Author Share Posted October 20, 2018 5 minutes ago, silentbob said: Yeah the saliva test isn’t very accurate and some prime ministers (Doug Ford) Isn’t a fan of them because of the inaccuracies in the results. My friend has been smoking weed for over 10 years and is a wake and baker. I don’t encourage people doing it but he said he would rather see a person high on the road than a drunk on the road. Which brings it back to what Jason was saying about the speed involved in these crashes. The reason why my friend would rather see a high driver on the road is because of the paranoia the drug would bring out in the person. He says they would be more cautious because of the paranoia and would cause them to drive slower/more cautiously. Compare to a drunk driver who would be less alert/carefree of their surroundings. I can’t argue against it and can’t argue for it either, but he might be right. There are supposed to be newer devices in development that can detect recent marijuana usage with good accuracy. We shall see. I’m skeptical of them too right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skillzdadirecta Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Who sponsored the studies. Budweiser? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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