In the car, everyone knows that to drink alcohol or smoking illegal substances (eg cannabis) can be dangerous. Some drugs are responsible for 3 to 4% of all traffic accidents in France, according to a study by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm).
Drug pictograms: relevant but insufficient
Medication risk for driving (a third of the specialties on the market) have been the subject of a sign in France since the end of the 1990s. In 2007, a system of pictograms was put in place to identify the drugs most at risk for driving a vehicle. Concretely, they are triangles of three colors following the dangerousness of the drug : yellow (level 1) “do not drive without having read the instructions”, orange (level 2) “be very careful and do not drive without the advice of a health professional”, red (level 3) “do not drive”.
For Emmanuel Lagarde, researcher at Inserm and author of the study published in the journal British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology on the effectiveness of pictograms on medicine boxes, this information is relevant, but not sufficient. According to him, there has been no lasting decrease in the risk of road accidents linked to taking medication since the implementation of the latter system 9 years ago.
Update the list of drugs at risk
According to road safety, rather than reviewing the pictograms, it would be necessary to redo a list of specialties dangerous for motorists. Task that will be responsible for road safety and the drug agency. The drugs most at risk? Sleeping pills or anti-anxiety drugs of the benzodiazepine and related family. They represent 70% of drugs associated with accidents.
Soon, a campaign will sensitize doctors and pharmacists to remind their customers of the pictograms. Also, if during a road accident, the police officer has suspicions about the condition of the person behind the wheel, he can request toxicological analyzes.
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