One-Quarter of Drivers in Single-Vehicle Crashes Test Positive for Drugs

A new study finds that one-quarter of drivers who died in single-vehicle crashes between 1999 and 2009 tested positive for drugs, and 37 percent had blood alcohol levels above the legal limit of .08.

USA Today reports that the researchers studied data on more than 44,000 drivers, which came from a government database of traffic deaths. The study found 58 percent of drivers did not have any alcohol in their systems, the researchers reported in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Of those drivers who tested positive for drugs, 22 percent were positive for marijuana, 22 percent for stimulants, and 9 percent for narcotics.

According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, only 19 states have laws that forbid any presence of a prohibited substance or drug in the driver’s body while in control of the vehicle.