Drug Impaired Driving

Through a grant from GHSA and Responsibility.org, the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety trained judges and case managers to use the CARS tool to aid in developing personalized treatment recommendations and more individualized sentencing decisions for DUI offenders, thereby reducing their chances of reoffending. Nevada’s goals were to increase education, awareness and the use of the CARS tool by providing two virtual and one in-person training.

With the legalization of recreational cannabis in Maryland on July 1, 2023, it is necessary that the state train officers to detect cannabis-impaired driving. Through a grant from GHSA and Responsibility.org, the Maryland Highway Safety Office (MHSO) supported the expansion of green labs, providing law enforcement officers the opportunity to learn about the impairing effects of cannabis and detect cannabis impairment at the roadside. 

In 2021, there were 848 fatal crashes in Louisiana, 336 (39.6%) of which involved alcohol use on the part of one or both drivers. These crashes resulted in 369 fatalities, accounting for 39.5% of the 993 traffic fatalities during that year. Through a grant from GHSA and Responsibility.org, the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission used the funding to purchase equipment allowing the labs to test every impaired driving blood sample submitted for analysis for a wider array of drugs, including inhalants.

Since January 1, 2020, Illinois residents 21-years and older can legally purchase cannabis from licensed sellers with or without a medical card. Through a grant funded by GHSA and Responsibility.org, the Illinois State Highway Safety Office used the funding to expand its ability to test drivers arrested for impairment by synthetic opioids by partnering with the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Analytical Forensic Toxicology Lab (AFTL).

Through a grant funded by GHSA and Responsibility.org, the Connecticut Department of Transportation Highway Safety Office (CDOT HSO) delivered the state’s first green lab, providing law enforcement officers with training and advanced information on how to identify impairment by cannabis. Additionally, CDOT HSO developed an operation plan which is now the blueprint for future green labs.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 28, 2023

Contact: Adam Snider, 202-580-7930, 202-365-8971 (after hours)

Statement by Jonathan Adkins, Chief Executive Officer, Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today an estimated 3.3% decrease in roadway deaths in the United States in the first half of 2023. Twenty-nine states saw fewer traffic fatalities, while 21 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are projected to have more deaths this year than last.

“This recent trend toward fewer deaths on our nation’s roads is welcome news,” Jonathan Adkins, chief executive officer of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said in a statement, “but these decreases pale in comparison to the troubling and unprecedented rise in dangerous driving and fatalities experienced during the height of the pandemic.”

“We’re at a pivot point from the way it was to the way it will be in the future. We, as a community, are trying to figure out what we need to change in order to preserve the benefits from traffic enforcement but to correct systemic problems we see,” Russ Martin, GHSA’s senior director of policy and government relations, told Vox.

The Delaware Office of Highway Safety (OHS) has announced a series of public forums across Delaware to work with residents to decrease road fatalities in the state.