Following a terrible incident that killed six high school girls in Oklahoma two years ago, the director of the United States National Transportation Safety Board has urged parents to caution children about the dangers of driving after smoking marijuana.
Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy made the appeal to parents on Thursday, when her agency released the final report on the March 22, 2022 crash between a small Chevrolet Spark hatchback and a gravel-hauling semi in Tishomingo.
The board, following an investigation by its staff, determined that the crash was caused by the 16-year-old driver slowing for an intersection and then accelerating through a stop sign because she was likely impaired by recent marijuana use and distracted by having five teen passengers in the car, according to the NTSB report.
In an interview, Homendy also stated that the cannabis problem is not restricted to teenagers. As more states allow recreational marijuana, teenagers and adults tend to underestimate the dangers of driving under the influence.
“There’s a perception that in states where it’s legal that it’s safe and legal to drive impaired on marijuana,” she told me.
In its findings on the collision, the NTSB noted studies that demonstrate marijuana reduces motor coordination, lowers reaction time, and affects time and distance judgment, all of which are key functions for driving.
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, it is currently legal for anyone aged 21 and up to use marijuana recreationally in 24 states and Washington, D.C. Oklahoma prohibits recreational use, although as in most states, it is authorized for medical uses. Driving while impaired by marijuana is unlawful in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which investigates transportation-related crashes but has no regulatory authority, issued a safety alert Thursday urging parents to talk to young drivers about how marijuana can impair driving and how they can make responsible choices to avoid driving while impaired or riding with impaired drivers.
Homendy claims that states that have legalized marijuana are falling behind in informing people that driving while under the influence is unlawful. She said that more than half of Americans live in states where recreational cannabis use is allowed.
“Unfortunately, I think state laws that are legalizing the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana have come before thoughts or action on what are they going to do about traffic safety,” Mr. Homendy said. “They are far ahead on legalizing it, but very behind when it comes to traffic safety.”
States, she added, should collect more data on how legalizing marijuana has influenced traffic safety, and they should begin enforcing laws prohibiting driving while impaired by cannabis.
“Enforcement has got to be there to deter,” according to her.
One research on incidents in Washington state, which has authorized recreational marijuana use, found that more drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for marijuana after it became legal, according to the NTSB.
Six high school girls boarded an automobile built to carry four for a lunch break in Tishomingo, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, according to an NTSB report.
At an intersection, the motorist slowed to 1 mile per hour (1.6 km/h), then accelerated and did not come to a complete stop for a sign. Instead, she accelerates and turns left in front of the gravel truck. The truck driver braked and turned to avoid the Spark, but it struck the driver’s side at a little under 50 mph (80 kilometers per hour). All six youths perished from multiple blunt-force injuries.
Blood tests from the driver’s body revealed a THC content of 95.9 nanograms per milliliter, according to the NTSB. If such an amount of THC, the main chemical component of marijuana, was discovered in a living person, it would imply “a high likelihood that the person had used cannabis very recently, and therefore was likely still experiencing acute impairing cannabis effects,” according to the paper.
However, the NTSB emphasized that body-cavity blood samples can be contaminated by other body fluids or THC from other tissues, such as the lungs, which may have significant quantities.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol also discovered vaping mouthpieces and cannabis buds in the automobile at the scene of the accident, according to the report.
The NTSB suggested in the report that the Oklahoma State Department of Education create a drug and alcohol abuse curriculum for local school systems that educates pupils about the dangers of cannabis-impaired driving. The NTSB stated that only Massachusetts and Rhode Island now have such course requirements.
The agency also wants the Governors Highway Safety Association, a group of state highway safety officers, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Association of State Boards of Education to notify their members about the Tishomingo crash and the need for cannabis education in schools and driver education courses.
According to the safety group, cannabis-impaired driving is an increasing safety concern, and state highway safety agencies are working to eliminate all impaired driving.
“We have to start communicating well ahead of time, to kids, that driving, having ingested or smoked or inhaled marijuana is impairing, and it’s a risk to them and a risk to others,” Homendy said.