MARIHUANA AND DRIVING AMONG TEENAGERS: REPORTED USE PATTERNS, EFFECTS AND EXPERIENCES RELATED TO DRIVING

Forty-nine per cent of 1271 incoming college freshmen reported using marihuana during the previous year. A majority of marihuana users simultaneously consume alcohol at least on occasion, and many of them have enough alcohol at those times to be impaired by the alcohol alone. Among users who smoke weekly or more often, one-quarter of driving while "high" occurs under the combined effect of marihuana and medium to heavy alcohol use. Most users reported marihuana effects on driving judged to be hazardous, such as altered attention, vision or time perception. In an estimated 15,000 driving trips while "high" on marihuana, two crashes occurred definitely attributable and two which were possibly attributable to marihuana use. Also, 42 persons (13 per cent of drivers) reported near crashes while "high". Since this is not a comparison study, it is not known whether or not this reported experience is excessive for this age group. Drivers who encountered trouble while driving after marihuana said 59 per cent of the time that the incidents were caused by the marihuana, 27 per cent by alcohol, and in 14 per cent that they couldn't assess which drug was responsible.

• Corporate Authors:

  nsin Avenue, NW

  Washington D.C. 20016
  ,   United States 
• Authors:
  • Waller, J A
  • Lamborn, K R
  • Steffenhagan, R A
• Publication Date: 1974-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 141-161
• Serial:
  • Water Pollution Control Federation
  • Volume: 6
  • Issue Number: 2

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Adolescents; Crash causes; Crash rates; Driver performance; Drivers; Drunk drivers; Drunk driving; Human characteristics; Marijuana; Personnel performance; Reaction time
• Uncontrolled Terms: Driver characteristics; Driver reaction
• ITRD Terms: 1643: Accident; 2279: Accident proneness; 1748: Adolescent; 1757: Age; 7347: Alcohol; 2238: Attention; 2267: Attitude (psychol); 2248: Decision process; 1855: Driving (veh); 2226: Driving aptitude; 2242: Drugs; 2231: Drunkenness; 2247: Reaction (human); 9150: Risk; 2259: Risk taking; 8122: USA
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Society;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00083839
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport and Road Research Laboratory (TRRL)
• Files: ITRD, TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 8 1975 12:00AM