Many times accidents are chalked up to drunk driving, but after autopsies have been performed, the reports will show about thirty percent of these bodies had large doses of drugs that impaired the driver's judgment. The problem is that there really is no roadside test for the average police department to check for drugs in the driver's system.
Typically, they will arrest them for being suspect of drunken driving, and get a judge to issue a court order for a full work up on a blood sample. This is nothing new, but the public has not become aware of drugged driving yet.
People consuming narcotics like heroin, LSD, and marijuana have no idea what they are doing at times behind the wheel of a four thousand pound car that now becomes an assault weapon with the capability of killing one or as many as a dozen people before crashing to a halt or being forced to stop by the police.
Someone that is hallucinating from drugs while driving is just as deadly as a person consuming a fifth of vodka before getting in their personal vehicle. Sadly, the driver is usually spared in these types of accidents, but the personal loss that is caused by the victim's families cannot be calculated.
Even more deadly are combinations of drugs, and alcohol for vehicle operators, some will die from overdosing while driving, and cause a crash, as there is not a living person behind the steering wheel any longer.
The federal government, and several car makers are working on technology the could possibly render vehicles immobile in the future by sensing the chemicals that are coming out of the pores of their hands, but that is years away from becoming a reality. Making this type of technology, a requirement for each vehicle will have to be fought out in congress, and at state level legislatures too.
People who kill others while under the influence of drugs are just a guilty, as drunk drivers, and are just as liable in civil court for wrongful death, and personal injury lawsuits.
When technology finally catches up the with drug users, the jails will start swelling by double, but for now most of these people are only caught after the damage has been done to them, and their victims.
Prevention through new inventions will hopefully curtail this whole area of criminal activity, and prevent thousands of deaths each year in the future.
Greg Baumgartner is a Texas personal injury lawyer and the founder of the Baumgartner law firm, which is dedicated to helping personal injury victims seek civil justice. If you would like to speak with a Houston truck accident lawyer call the Baumgartner firm.
