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Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

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Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#491

Post by immibis »

randerson wrote: post #469
immibis wrote: post #444

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of a deterrent can the police possibly impose that would outweigh the deterrent for not driving illegally, which (in your country) is being starving and homeless?

The cops will never deter everyone from breaking the law, but they don't have to. They just need to deter a large enough % of the population to have a positive effect. Driving while intoxicated is not a crime of desperation. Even celebrities are often caught for DUI despite being able to afford a full-time limo driver. Most people who drive intoxicated have jobs and reputations they'd prefer to keep, and families at…

The crime under discussion is not driving while intoxicated but driving without a license.

But if you're going to bring that up anyway, how are people supposed to get their car home from the bar in a place where the government hates public transport?

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#492

Post by littlestymaar »

randerson wrote: post #468
littlestymaar wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they were to catch and jail just 1% of license-less drivers, in a visible way, it would be a deterrent to the other 99%. But the rate of being caught & punished is negligible (at least in the states I've lived in) so people know they'll get away with it. 1% is actually negligible, and would not have a deterrent effect. In fact I wouldn't even be surprised if the effective prosecution rate was somewhat higher tha…

Alcohol will likely always be a factor in the worst accidents. But France is doing something right because your fatal accident rate per capita is one third that of America's [0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...

It's not France in particular though, America is the outlier among developed nations. In fact France is a bit behind most other European nations (but not by much).

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#493

Post by Ragnarockooo »

bloppe wrote: post #484

Anybody who's smoked a lot of weed knows that THC tolerance works very differently from alcohol tolerance. If you've been ripping dabs every couple hours for the last month, you might be well above the legal limit and barely feel different at all. On the other hand, if you haven't smoked in a year and take a single hit of a modern joint, you could be floored. I'm not sure how THC intoxication could be measured, but b…

Smoking weed is terrible for you. Either drink or do psychedelics.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#495

Post by randerson »

immibis wrote: post #491
randerson wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cops will never deter everyone from breaking the law, but they don't have to. They just need to deter a large enough % of the population to have a positive effect. Driving while intoxicated is not a crime of desperation. Even celebrities are often caught for DUI despite being able to afford a full-time limo driver. Most people who drive intoxicated have jobs and reputations they'd prefer to keep, and families at…

The crime under discussion is not driving while intoxicated but driving without a license. But if you're going to bring that up anyway, how are people supposed to get their car home from the bar in a place where the government hates public transport?

> The crime under discussion is not driving while intoxicated but driving without a license.

How did these people lose their license in the first place? The most common reason is DUIs. Followed by multiple instances of reckless driving. People are less likely to lose their license to begin with if they know there will be real consequences.

And there's a large enough population for whom driving without a license is not a crime of desperation. In many places there _is_ a public transport alternative (even if its slow and crappy). I used to give a lift every day to a colleague who had lost his license. I enjoyed the company and he paid for my gas. Many people can make an arrangement like this.

> But if you're going to bring that up anyway, how are people supposed to get their car home from the bar in a place where the government hates public transport?

Having been in this position many times: take an Uber, then Uber back to get your car the next day and plan better (or don't drink) next time.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#496

Post by neomantra »

boston_clone wrote: post #353
rayiner wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had never smelled it before. It smells identical to sewer gas to me—I know what that smells like because our house was missing several drain traps.

Fascinating. I wonder if this is a genetic thing similar to people who sense soap for cilantro, except with terpenes instead of aldehydes.

Youth these days tend to say “this weed has gas” rather than “this weed is dank”. I’m unsure if that is just due to gassy strains becoming more popular or just lingo. Garlic is another rising scent.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#497

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

tokai wrote: post #13

An issue with having the legal limit at ~2-5ng/ml is that it makes habitual users be over the limit if they have smoked recently or not.[0] Making the prohibition seem unserious to some, not about safety but about punitive control, and in turn making it matter less if you smoke and drive as you are taking the risk of getting into trouble in any case. The impairments of driving under the influence of alcohol have been…

And there are alcoholics who remain highly functional well over the legal limit.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#498

Post by [deleted] »

3eb7988a1663 wrote: post #12

Wish the paper were available - would love to know the percentage with alcohol. The other question I have - my prior is that a bad driver (tired, drunk, high) is something like 70:30 odds of killing themselves vs some innocent bystander dying because of their actions. I have anecdotally heard of several sad tales where some guy is on his Nth DUI and kills an entire family, while he walks away from the accident withou…

[deleted]

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#499

Post by nobody9999 »

immibis wrote: post #491
randerson wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cops will never deter everyone from breaking the law, but they don't have to. They just need to deter a large enough % of the population to have a positive effect. Driving while intoxicated is not a crime of desperation. Even celebrities are often caught for DUI despite being able to afford a full-time limo driver. Most people who drive intoxicated have jobs and reputations they'd prefer to keep, and families at…

The crime under discussion is not driving while intoxicated but driving without a license. But if you're going to bring that up anyway, how are people supposed to get their car home from the bar in a place where the government hates public transport?

>But if you're going to bring that up anyway, how are people supposed to get their car home from the bar in a place where the government hates public transport?

An anecdote related to me by a former (Florida) county sheriff's deputy answers that question:

Many police will stake out bars around closing time, awaiting the intoxicated to get behind the wheel so they can be stopped, breathalyzed and arrested.

However, patrons were aware of this and the deputy saw a patron leave, stumbling, drop their car keys several times, then get into their car and drive away.

When stopping said individual, the breathalyzer and field sobriety test showed the driver to be stone cold sober. As such, the deputy sent the driver on their way.

Returning to the bar parking lot, he found that all the other patrons had departed while he was wasting his time on the one sober person -- dubbed the "designated decoy."

I'm sure other variations are and have been in use in the US for a long time -- since most places don't have public transportation or reliable taxis.

The "cars first, public transit last, if at all" culture in most of the US makes the likelihood of DUI/DWI and crashes/injuries/fatalities much, much worse.

Re: Over 40% of deceased drivers in vehicle crashes test positive for THC: Study

#500

Post by nobody9999 »

randerson wrote: post #495
immibis wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crime under discussion is not driving while intoxicated but driving without a license. But if you're going to bring that up anyway, how are people supposed to get their car home from the bar in a place where the government hates public transport?

> The crime under discussion is not driving while intoxicated but driving without a license. How did these people lose their license in the first place? The most common reason is DUIs. Followed by multiple instances of reckless driving. People are less likely to lose their license to begin with if they know there will be real consequences. And there's a large enough population for whom driving without a license is no…

>How did these people lose their license in the first place? The most common reason is DUIs. Followed by multiple instances of reckless driving. People are less likely to lose their license to begin with if they know there will be real consequences.

When I was in college in Ohio, one of my suite mates had several DUI arrests. After the first, his license was suspended -- yet he was allowed to drive to/from work/school because public transportation was minimal. After the third DUI, he was sentenced to 30 days in jail -- served on the weekends so he could continue going to school without interruption -- and still drive his car to/from work/school.

I was flabbergasted by that. But I guess that's how things are often handled in places without public transportation. And more's the pity.

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