DRUGS AND HIGHWAY SAFETY

Not enough is known yet about the drug and driving problem to define its magnitude precisely and support countermeasure development. Research required to define the drug and driving problem more precisely and develop more effective countermeasures has been hampered by the complexity and variety of available drugs, and by the lack of analytic capability, funding, and coordination of effort. Nonetheless, a series of near-term strategies can be carried out by units of state and local government. Deficient state laws should be amended. Vigorous prosecution of impaired drivers using behavioral and other available evidence should continue, and nontherapeutic drug users who choose to drive while impaired should receive license sanctions. The health/legal approach should be used to find and treat offenders with underlying drug abuse problems. Public information and education efforts should focus on health care professionals and both therapeutic and recreational drug users. Short-term, poorly controlled, poorly coordinated research should be avoided; future research should focus on rigidly controlled, large-scale epidemiologic studies of crashed and noncrashed drivers, and of human performance while under drug influence. This paper is a guide for action by policymakers at the state and local level. It provides a series of strategies directed at controlling the drug-crash risk--strategies that can be implemented by state and local units of government in the near-term future.