drugged driving - Walton Law Firm

Drug-Impaired Driving in San Marcos: Five Things to Know

North County Injury Lawyers — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 02:20:49 GMT

When drug-impaired drivers cause injuries in traffic collisions in San Marcos, it is essential to hold those drivers accountable and seek compensation. What do you need to know about drugged driving crashes in Southern California? The following are five important things to consider.

Drug-Impaired Driving is Unlawful and a Motorist Can be Liable for Injuries

It is important to know that impaired driving does not just include alcohol-impaired driving. Drug-impaired driving is dangerous and unlawful in California, even if using the drug is otherwise legal if you are not behind the wheel of an automobile.

New Study Says States with Legalized Recreational Marijuana Have Higher Traffic Injury and Death Rates

Recreational marijuana is legal in California, and it has been for quite some time. However, just because recreational marijuana is legal for adults does not mean that it is lawful to drive after using marijuana. The California Office of Traffic Safety underscores that marijuana slows a driver’s reaction time, makes it more difficult to make decisions, and makes driving significantly riskier. Indeed, even in small amounts, marijuana use can impact a driver’s ability to stay safe behind the wheel. A recent study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and reported by U.S. News and World Report suggested that serious and deadly car accident rates are higher in states like California where recreational marijuana has been legalized.

You Should Gather Evidence at the Scene of the Accident

Just like any other car accident, you should gather as much evidence as you can at the scene of a drug-impaired collision. Take photographs of the scene (including property damage and physical injuries), seek witness contact information, and obtain contact and insurance information from the at-fault motorist.

Most Drug-Impaired Driving Claims Have a Two-Year Statute of Limitations

Under California law, most personal injury cases have a two-year statute of limitations. Your drug-impaired driving claim will most likely need to be filed within two years from the accident, but you should discuss your case with a lawyer as soon as possible to be certain that you file your claim on time.

Drivers Can be Responsible for Injuries Even if They Were Impaired Due to Prescription Medication

Drug-impaired driving includes more than illegal drugs and recreational marijuana. When a motorist’s use of a prescription medication causes an accident, that motorist can be liable for any injuries that result from the accident they caused. Indeed, certain medications can lead a driver to be impaired, and deciding to use such medication before driving is usually negligent. According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, “over the last 10-15 years, more Americans have begun taking more prescription and over-the-counter medications that can impair driving,” and sometimes the effects of these drugs can last for up to 24 hours after initially taking them.

Contact a San Marcos Car Accident Lawyer

If you need assistance filing a drug-impaired injury claim, you should seek advice from one of the experienced San Marcos auto accident lawyers at our firm. Contact the Walton Law Firm to learn more about your options for seeking compensation after a car crash.

New Study Addresses Traffic Crashes and Marijuana Sales

North County Injury Lawyers — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 13:51:48 GMT

Traffic crashes can happen in San Marcos and throughout Southern California for a wide variety of reasons, from distracted and aggressive driving to intoxicated or impaired driving. A recent study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) addressed collision rates following the legalization of marijuana in California and several other states. While the study revealed that the legalization of recreational marijuana in various states did lead to a “statistically significant increase in injury crash rates,” the beginning of marijuana sales in those states did not correspond with any additional increased risk of a collision. Accordingly, the study suggests that marijuana legalization may lead to an increase in traffic collisions at the outset, but further access to marijuana through retail sales does not result in any additional rise in accident rates.

Car Accident Data and Marijuana Legalization in California

Recreational marijuana has been legal in California since 2016 with the passage of the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA). In the recent IIHS study, researchers looked at traffic accident rates in five states that legalized the recreational use of marijuana between 2012 and 2017, including Colorado, Washington State, Oregon, California, and Nevada. The researchers looked at car accident data in the immediate aftermath of the legalization of recreational marijuana in these states, followed by accident data in the period immediately following the start of recreational marijuana retail sales. Those dates are as follows for the states involved in the study:

Colorado (2012 recreational use and 2014 retail sales);
Washington (2012 recreational use and 2014 retail sales);
Oregon (2015 recreational use and 2015 retail sales);
California (2016 recreational use and 2018 retail sales); and
Nevada (2017 recreational use and 2017 retail sales).

Legalization Leads to Statistically Significant Increase in Collision Rates but Retail Sales Do Not

The key takeaway from the IIHS study is that the legalization of recreational marijuana leads to a statistically significant rise in traffic crash rates, but the start of retail sales does not lead to a statistically significant further increase in overall accident rates. Accounting for other variables, the researchers concluded that, across all states, “legalization of recreational marijuana use was associated with increased injury crash rates (+6.6%), while the subsequent legalization of retail sales was associated with a decrease (-0.6%), but only the former was statistically significant.”

In terms of deadly auto crashes across all states, the researchers determined that “legalization of recreational marijuana was associated with slightly increased fatal crash rates (+2.3%, while the subsequent legalization of retail sales was associated with another slight increase (+1.4%), but neither estimate was statistically significant.

However, the researchers ultimately suggested that legalization of recreational marijuana had a more pronounced effect on car accident rates in California. Indeed, according to the IIHS study, injury crash rates increased by nearly 5% with the legalization of recreational marijuana, with an increase of more than 8% in fatal collision rates.

Contact a Car Accident Lawyer in San Marcos for Assistance

If you or someone you love sustained injuries in an impaired driving collision, you should seek advice from an experienced San Marco auto accident lawyer as soon as possible. Contact the Walton Law Firm today for more information about how we can assist you.

Is Marijuana a Factor in San Marcos Car Accidents?

North County Injury Lawyers — Fri, 29 Dec 2017 21:24:33 GMT

As many residents of San Marcos know, California law allows adults aged 21 and older to buy, possess, and consume marijuana as long as it is one ounce or less in a private residents or in an area in which marijuana consumption is legal. In addition, the law permits adults to grow marijuana plants in a small number (up to six of them), as long as they are growing the marijuana plants in a secure place where the public cannot view them. What does this have to do with car accident rates in San Marcos? According to an article in The Washington Post, two studies conducted earlier this year “came to seemingly opposite conclusions on whether marijuana use is causing an increase in car crashes in states that have legalized the drug.”

Since California is one of those states, it is important for residents to consider the potential link between marijuana use and motor vehicle crash rates. If you or someone you love got hurt in a traffic collision caused by a drugged driver, you should learn more about filing a claim for compensation.

Are Car Accident Insurance Claims Higher in States Where Marijuana is Legal?

As the article explains, the first study was conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). In analyzing claims submitted for car accident damage and injuries between 2012 and 2016, researchers looked at claims from states in which marijuana is legal and compared that data to claims from states in which marijuana is not legal. What did they find? In brief, “over that time period, collisions claim frequencies in states that had legalized marijuana were about 3 percent higher than would have been anticipated without legalization.” In other words, the study intimated that there are indeed more car crashes in states where drivers have legal access to marijuana.

However, a subsequent study came to an opposite conclusion. Indeed, a study published in the American Journal of Public Health determined that there was “no increase in vehicle crash fatalities” in states where marijuana was legal at the time of the collisions in comparison to similar states without legalized marijuana. That study looked at deadly car collision data from 2009 to 2015.

While these two studies initially might seem to contradict one another, it is important to note that the first study assessed all crashes (fatal and nonfatal) while the second study only assessed fatal crashes. We might infer, then, that the rate of all car accidents may be higher in states with legalized marijuana, but there is no marked increase in fatal collisions.

Driving Impairment and Marijuana

Are Californians at greater risk of sustaining serious or fatal injuries in a motor vehicle crash following the changes to California’s marijuana laws? Not necessarily. An earlier report from 2015 in The Washington Post indicated that “stoned drivers are a lot safer than drunk ones.” And the data from the two studies appears to support that point.

To be clear, smoking marijuana may indeed increase the risk of a car crash, but it may not increase the risk of a deadly one. At the same time, smoking marijuana and getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle always puts the driver, as well as other Californians on the road, in danger.

Contact a San Marcos Car Accident Attorney

If you or someone you love got hurt in an accident caused by a drugged driver, you should speak with a San Marcos car accident lawyer as soon as possible. Contact the Walton Law Firm for more information.

(image courtesy of Steve Halama)

Drugged Driving Accidents in Encinitas

North County Injury Lawyers — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 22:17:11 GMT

When you live in Encinitas or in a nearby part of North County, you likely know about the risks of alcohol-impaired driving. We often hear about DUI laws in California and the serious consequences of driving under the influence of alcohol. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlights how an average of 28 people sustain fatal injuries in car accidents each day caused by drunk drivers (or, to put that number another way, one person dies every 51 minutes because a driver decided to drink and drive).

What about drugged driving? How does smoking or otherwise consuming marijuana affect a person’s ability to drive safely? How often do prescription drugs or illegal substances play a role in serious and fatal car accidents in Encinitas? According to a recent report from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS), the FDA’s newly finalized study provides guidance on drugged driving.

Drugged Driving Laws in California

Before we discuss the FDA’s guidance on drugged driving, it is important to understand how California law deals with impaired driving, from drunk driving to drugged driving. Under California Vehicle Code Section 23152, in addition to making it illegal for a person to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher, the law also clarifies that it is “unlawful for a person who is addicted to the use of any drug to drive a vehicle.” In addition, the law makes it unlawful “for a person who is under the influence of any drug to drive a vehicle” and “for a person who is under the combined influence of any alcoholic beverage and drug to drive a vehicle.”

The law clearly lays out how a person’s BAC can be a firm indicator of unlawful driving while impaired by alcohol. However, the statute is not quite as clear when it comes to determining whether a person is under the influence of a drug, particularly in situations in which a person might indeed be impaired by drug use, but the drug might be a legally prescribed one or an otherwise legal substance.

FDA Guidance on Drugged Driving

While the use of illegal substances can result in drugged driving, the FDA guidance is concerned primarily with impaired driving caused by lawful drugs. How does the FDA recommend determining whether drugged driving has occurred? The FDA recommends focusing on “five broad functional domains important to driving ability” when considering a person’s level of impairment, including the following:

Driver’s level of alertness, arousal, and wakefulness;
Driver’s attention and processing speed;
Reaction time and psychomotor functions of the driver;
Driver’s sensory-perceptual functioning; and
Driver’s executive functions.

These factors are primarily designed to determine impairment for psychoactive drugs. The FDA recognizes that drugmakers and law enforcement officials will also need to consider factors that could determine impairment when a person as taken non-psychoactive drugs. In the end, it is important to consider the specific effects of drugs, and to take them on a case-by-case basis in assessing how they might affect a driver’s level of impairment.

Do you have questions about filing a drugged driving claim? An Escondido car accident lawyer can assist with your case. Contact the Walton Law Firm today to speak with a personal injury attorney.

(image courtesy of Kalu Ci)