Drugged Driving Is Just As Rampant As Drunk Driving
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Many times accidents are chalked up to drunk driving, but after autopsies have been performed, the reports will show about thirty percent of these bodies had large doses of drugs that impaired the driver’s judgment. The problem is that there really is no roadside test for the average police department to check for drugs in the driver’s system.
Typically, they will arrest them for being suspect of drunken driving, and get a judge to issue a court order for a full work up on a blood sample. This is nothing new, but the public has not become aware of drugged driving yet.
People consuming narcotics like heroin, LSD, and marijuana have no idea what they are doing at times behind the wheel of a four thousand pound car that now becomes an assault weapon with the capability of killing one or as many as a dozen people before crashing to a halt or being forced to stop by the police.
Someone that is hallucinating from drugs while driving is just as deadly as a person consuming a fifth of vodka before getting in their personal vehicle. Sadly, the driver is usually spared in these types of accidents, but the personal loss that is caused by the victim’s families cannot be calculated.
Even more deadly are combinations of drugs, and alcohol for vehicle operators, some will die from overdosing while driving, and cause a crash, as there is not a living person behind the steering wheel any longer.
The federal government, and several car makers are working on technology the could possibly render vehicles immobile in the future by sensing the chemicals that are coming out of the pores of their hands, but that is years away from becoming a reality. Making this type of technology, a requirement for each vehicle will have to be fought out in congress, and at state level legislatures too.
People who kill others while under the influence of drugs are just a guilty, as drunk drivers, and are just as liable in civil court for wrongful death, and personal injury lawsuits.
When technology finally catches up the with drug users, the jails will start swelling by double, but for now most of these people are only caught after the damage has been done to them, and their victims.
Prevention through new inventions will hopefully curtail this whole area of criminal activity, and prevent thousands of deaths each year in the future.
Which is More Dangerous Texting or Drinking
Studies have shown that texting may be more of a danger to the motoring public than drunk drivers. The reason is that both situations can turn ugly in a hurry. However with texting and the explosion of the mobile communication devices more and more people are using cell phones while driving for e-mail, MMS, and the sheer numbers are astounding.
Given the growth of mobile communication devices and the tendency of technology communications to the instantaneous , we have become a “connected” society. While that is good in many aspects it is disastrous when driving.
That is not to say that drunk driving accidents are not a radical and dangerous problem in Texas -they are. The point is that there are many more people texting, e-mailing and not paying attention to the road then there are intoxicated drivers. Which leads to a conclusion that texting may be ultimately more dangerous to society than drinking when driving.
We have laws protecting us from drivers who have consumed too much alcohol and those laws tend to be fairly strict. However when it comes to distracted driving we are much less regulated and it has become a huge problem.
America needs a national standard for mobile communication devices to protect Americans. The hodgepodge of laws in different cities and different states makes it very difficult to enforce the statutes and educate the public on what conduct is acceptable and what is not.
Please support distracted driving legislation based on a uniform national standard.