THE PREVALENCE OF DRUGS AND ALCOHOL IN FATALLY INJURED TRUCK DRIVERS

To assess the impact of alcohol and other drug use in the trucking ind ustry, the National Transportation Safety Board, in collaboration with The National Institute on Drug Abuse investigated fatal-to-the-driver trucking accidents in eight states over a one year period. Comprehens ive drug screens were performed on blood specimens collected from 168 fatally injured drivers. One or more drugs were detected in 67% of the drivers and 33% of the drivers had detectable blood concentrations of psychoactive drugs or alcohol. The most prevalent drugs were cannabin oids and ethanol, each found in 13% of the drivers. Cocaine or benzoyl ecgonine was found in 8% of the cases. Seven percent of the driver's b lood specimens contained amphetamine or methamphetamine and 7% contain ed phenylpropanolamine, ephedrine, or pseudoephedrine. A panel of toxi cologists reviewed the accident investigation report and the toxicolog y findings for each case and determined that impairment due to marijua na use was a factor in all cases where the delta-9-tetrahydrocannabino l concentration exceeded 1.0 ng/mL and that alcohol impairment contrib uted to all accidents where the blood alcohol concentration was 0.04% wt/vol or greater. In 50 of 56 cases where psychoactive drugs or alcoh ol were found, impairment due to substance use contributed to the fata l accident.