Study Shows Drugged Driving is Prevalent

USA Today reports that drivers who die in crashes test positive for drugs 25 percent of the time, a new study finds.

Researchers examined data on more than 44,000 drivers in single-vehicle crashes who died between 1999 and 2009. They found that 24.9 percent tested positive for drugs and 37 percent had blood-alcohol levels in excess of 0.08, the legal limit. Fifty-eight percent had no alcohol in their systems; 5 percent had less than 0.08.

Study co-authors Eduardo Romano and Robert Voas of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md., told the paper that their study is one of the first to show the prevalence of drug use among fatally injured drivers. Among drivers who tested positive for drugs, 22 percent were positive for marijuana, 22 percent for stimulants and 9 percent for narcotics.