In more than half of the cases, the accidents are linked to the difficulties of drivers on opioids to stay in their lane: they cross the solid white line and hit an oncoming vehicle.
Americans are more likely to die from an opioid overdose than from a car accident. The announcement was made on January 14, 2019 by the National Safety Council, an American organization in charge of health. But what are the risks of opioid use for drivers?
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) shows that prescribing opioids for pain and taking them before driving doubles the risk of fatal crashes.
Line crossing, the main cause of accidents
Researchers at Columbia University in New York analyzed more than 18,000 fatal car crashes that took place between 1993 and 2016, involving a total of more than 36,000 drivers. They find that the use of prescription opioids doubles the risk of being the cause of a fatal collision, regardless of their blood alcohol level.
In 54.7% of cases, the accident is due to crossing a continuous white line. Drivers on opioids would have difficulty staying in their lane, yet this driving error is the cause of one in four fatal accidents in the United States.
More drivers on opioids
In 1993, 2% of drivers responsible for a fatal accident tested positive for opioids, in 2016, they were 7%. In all US states, it is illegal to drive after consuming opioids, but for researchers, it is possible that many consumers are misinformed about this prohibition and about all the side effects of these drugs.
Since the mid-1990s, the United States has been hit by the opioid crisis. They are more and more prescribed and cause more and more overdoses. Although opioids are initially given by prescription to relieve pain, many patients then switch to addiction. This scourge affects even the youngest: between 1999 and 2016, nearly 9,000 American children and adolescents died of an overdose of opioids or prescription drugs.
.
