THE ROLE OF COCAINE IN FATAL CRASHES: FIRST RESULTS OF THE QUEBEC DRUG STUDY

As part of a major undertaking to establish the contribution of drugs in road crashes in Quebec, the present study focuses on the role of cocaine. Coroner, forensic laboratory and police accident records from April 1999 to December 2000 were matched for 265 fatally injured drivers of passenger vehicles. Cocaine was found in 7.9% of urine samples and 6.0% of blood samples. In order to set up a control group, two roadside surveys were conducted in August 1999 and 2000. The survey sample was distributed proportionately to the number of fatal accidents per time of day and day of the week. During both daytime and nighttime, a total of 11,952 drivers participated in the two surveys among which 11,574 provided a breath sample (96.8%), 8,177 a saliva sample (68.4%) and 5,931 a urine sample (49.6%). Cocaine was detected in 1.1% of urine samples and 1.0% of saliva samples of the driving population. In both fatally injured drivers and driving population, cocaine was found mostly (>90%) in four main types of combination: cocaine alone, cocaine plus cannabis, cocaine plus alcohol, cocaine plus cannabis plus alcohol. The data collected allowed two different analyses: a case-control (urine/urine) and a responsibility analysis (case-case approach) that compares cocaine cases to drug-free cases. Despite some data limitations, all analyses for the four main types of combination clearly suggest that cocaine use plays a role in fatal crashes.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08926484
• Supplemental Notes:
  • The 45th annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) was not held due to the events of September 11, 2001. However, the papers prepared for the 45th annual meeting are published as the AAAM 45th Annual Proceedings.
• Corporate Authors:

  Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)

  P.O. Box 4176
  Barrington, IL  United States  60011-4176
• Authors:
  • Dussault, C
  • Brault, M
  • Lemire, A M
  • Bouchard, J
• Conference:
  • Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine 45th Annual Proceedings
  • Location: San Antonio, Texas
  • Date: 2001-9-24 to 2001-9-26
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 125-137
• Serial:
  • Publication of: ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF AUTOMOTIVE MEDICINE
  • Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)
  • ISSN: 0892-6484

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Alcohol use; Blood analysis; Breath; Cocaine; Drugs; Fatalities; Marijuana; Roadside; Saliva; Surveys; Traffic crashes; Urine
• Geographic Terms: Quebec (Province)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00923429
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI
• Created Date: Apr 11 2002 12:00AM