SAN FRANCISCO, CA, November 17, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ — Of the 52,274 fatal crash drivers in 2017, 67% of the drivers (about 35,000) had no valid drug test. Eight states – CA, FL, GA, IN, NC, NY, PA, and TX – had NO valid test result for more than 1,000 drivers. About 30,000 drivers, 57%, were not DUI tested. Seven states – CA Fl, GA, NY, NC, PA, and TX – had 1000 or more drivers not tested for Alcohol. Nine states now have no penalty for marijuana possession, blurring the line between recreational and legal use. The 2017 data is the latest data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System in October 2018.
Marijuana and DUI presence is a major crash factor. Marijuana presence is at 19.2% of tested drivers, with the percentage up 41% in 5 years. DUI is still No.1 at 27.9%, but was up less than 1% in 2017, and was down 7% in five years. Further, the 8 states of AK, CO, DC, MA, MO, NE, RI, and VT, had a marijuana percentage higher than the DUI level of 27.9%.
