Study: More drivers on drugs than booze

Let's hope he's not getting behind the wheel anytime soon. (AP Photo)

Twice as many drivers are impaired by drugs than alcohol, according to a $650,000 study paid for by the U.S. government, which, despite being $16 trillion in debt, is spending money like a drunken sailor on ecstasy.

Speaking of bankrupt governments, the study was conducted in California, where survey takers risked death to “wave over hundreds of late-night California motorists over two weekends this summer.”

Oddly enough, 1,300 people agreed to pull over and take a survey, according to an article in The Orange County Register.  Drivers were paid $20 for their time, saliva, and presumably, honesty.

Tests showed that 14 percent of drivers had at least one drug in their system. Marijuana tokers accounted for more than half of the positive drug tests. Illegal drugs and prescription or over-the-counter medications that could impair driving, were responsible for the rest.

The test was able to determine if marijuana had been used in the past few hours.

Only 7 percent of drivers had a measurable level of alcohol on their breath, most well below the legal blood-alcohol limit of .08 percent, the newspaper reported. Nearly a quarter of those with alcohol in their system also tested positive for at least one drug.

One driver was too drunk to answer any questions. It’s a good thing he pulled over. He was given a ride and not charged with DUI.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Wayne Howard said an increase in the usage of prescription pain and anxiety medications is creating more unsafe drivers.

“People think ‘drugs,’ they think heroin or meth. It’s not. It’s prescription drugs,” said Howard, who must not have been told the test results.

But drugged driving is at least as old as the Scooby Doo gang’s Mystery Machine, which I figure to be a mid-’60s Chevy.

A national survey done in 2007 found 16 percent of weekend, nighttime drivers tested positive for illegal, prescription, or over-the-counter medications.

To quote Sgt. Phil Esterhaus, “Let’s be careful out there.”