DETROIT — A horrific crash that killed six high school girls in Oklahoma two years ago has the head of the US National Transportation Safety Board urging parents to warn teenagers about the risks of driving after using marijuana.
Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy made a plea to parents Thursday as her agency released its final report on the March 22, 2022 collision between a small Chevrolet Spark hatchback and a gravel semi in the small town of Tishomingo.
The board, after an investigation by its staff, determined that the accident was caused by a 16-year-old driver slowing down at an intersection, then speeding through a stop sign because he may have been distracted by using new marijuana and was distracted by having five teenage passengers in the car, the NTSB report said.
In the interview, Homendy also said that the problem of cannabis is not limited to teenagers. As more states have legalized recreational marijuana, teenagers and adults tend to underestimate the risks of driving under the influence.
“There is an understanding that in countries where it is legal that it is safe and legal to drive, it is not safe to use marijuana,” she said.
In its report on the crash, the NTSB cited studies showing that marijuana reduces motor coordination, shortens reaction time and impairs judgment of time and distance, all functions critical to driving.
It is now legal for people 21 and older to use recreational marijuana in 24 states plus Washington, DC, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Oklahoma does not allow recreational use, but like most states, it is legal for medical purposes. Driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal in all states and Washington, DC
The NTSB, which investigates transportation-related accidents but has no regulatory powers, issued a safety alert on Thursday urging parents to talk to young drivers about how marijuana can impair driving, and how they can make the responsible choice not to drive when disability or riding. impaired driver.
Homendy said states that have legalized marijuana are behind making sure people know that it is illegal to drive under the influence. More than half of Americans live in states where recreational marijuana use is legal, he said.
“Unfortunately, I think state laws that legalize the recreational and medicinal use of marijuana have really come before any thought or action in terms of what we’re going to do in terms of traffic safety,” Homendy said. “They are further ahead in terms of legalization, but still behind in terms of traffic safety.”
States, he said, should collect more data on how legalizing marijuana affects traffic safety, and they should start enforcing laws against driving while under the influence of marijuana.
“Enforcement should be there to prevent it,” he said.
One study of crashes in Washington state, which has legalized the use of recreational marijuana, showed that more drivers involved in fatal crashes tested positive for marijuana after legalization, the NTSB said.
In Tishomingo, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Oklahoma City, six high school girls got into a car designed to carry four for their lunch break, the NTSB report said.
At the intersection, the driver slows down to 1 mile per hour (1.6 kilometers per hour), but speeds up and does not stop to signal. Instead, he sped up and turned left in front of the gravel truck. The truck driver braked and steered to avoid the Spark, but it hit the driver’s side at less than 50 mph (80 kilometers per hour). All six teenagers died of multiple blunt force injuries.
A blood test taken from the driver’s body found a THC concentration of 95.9 nanograms per milliliter, the NTSB said. If levels of THC, the main chemical component of marijuana, are found in a person who is still alive, it would indicate “a high probability that the person has used cannabis recently, and therefore still experiences the acute effects of cannabis,” he said. the report said.
But the NTSB cautioned that body cavity blood samples may be contaminated by other body fluids or THC from other tissues, including the lungs, which may contain high concentrations.
In addition, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol found vaping mouthpieces and marijuana buds in the car at the scene of the accident, the report said.
The NTSB recommended in its report that the Oklahoma State Department of Education develop a drug and alcohol abuse curriculum for local school districts that informs students about the risks of driving impaired by marijuana. Currently, only Massachusetts and Rhode Island have such course requirements, the NTSB said.
The agency also wants the Governors’ Highway Safety Association, a group of state highway safety officers, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of Boards of Education to inform members about the Tishomingo crash and the need for marijuana information in schools and drivers. educational courses.
The safety association said in a statement that marijuana-impaired driving is a growing safety problem, and the state’s highway safety office is focused on eliminating all impaired driving.
“We need to start communicating first, to children, that driving, drinking or smoking or smoking marijuana is harmful, and a risk to them and a risk to others,” said Homendy.
