Aussie drink-driving laws have similar penalties, but our BAC level is still at .05. This will be moved to .02 in the coming years. Be safe for you, your family and the person you may injure because, you thought you were ‘ok to drive!’
SHOULD YOU BE DRIVING? DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE....EVER!
Imagine if you had to tell a family that their child was never coming home again...because a driver had a few too many drinks and they were too lazy to get a taxi? How would you feel if it was your child? Your brother, your parent, your best friend? Now imagine that you're the one who had a few drinks and thought...Home isn't too far. I'll make it without getting busted. While on the back streets worrying if the booze bus will catch you, you hit someone. How do you live with that for the rest of your life?
Australian cars will soon be fitted with sensors that can 'sniff' out alcohol, with experts saying the revolutionary technology could save thousands of lives.
The technology behind the 'ultimate breath test' can detect a driver's blood alcohol level in less than one second using their exhaled breath.
The sensors use infrared light beams to measure the amount of carbon dioxide and alcohol molecules in the air inside the car.
Your phone can tell when you're high: Data from accelerometer and GPS sensors can be used to predict with 90% accuracy if someone is stoned, study finds
An algorithm based on sensors data combined with the time of day and day of the week was right nine out of ten times
The most important features were sensors tracking movements, GPS location
Current marijuana tests have a three-day window and are difficult to administer in the field
The algorithm could 'deliver a brief intervention when and where it might have the most impact to reduce cannabis-related harm'
Sensors on a person's smartphone can be used to determine if they're high with uncanny precision, according to a new study out of Rutgers University
Researchers at the school's Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research found that an algorithm that combined sensors tracking movements and GPS location with data on the time of day and day of the week had a 90 percent accuracy rate in determining if someone was stoned.
The algorithm could help law enforcement and health professionals more accurately predict if an individual is currently experiencing 'cannabis intoxication,' according to a release.
'We might be able to detect when a person might be experiencing cannabis intoxication and deliver a brief intervention when and where it might have the most impact to reduce cannabis-related harm,' said co-author Tammy Chung, director of the Institute's Center for Population Behavioral Health in the statement.
Researchers have been able to create an algorithm that predicts whether a regular pot smoker is high with 90 percent accuracy. The system combines GPS and movement data from their smartphone with info on the time of day and day of the week
The study, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence, evaluated the feasibility of using smartphone sensor data to identify episodes of 'cannabis intoxication' — being noticeably high— in a non-lab environment.
Just based on the time of day and day of week, the algorithm had a 60 percent accuracy rate
Getting high has been linked to slower response times, which can impair driving and other focus-intensive activities.
Existing marijuana detection measures — like blood and urine tests — present logistical issues and would be too time-consuming to use as an intervention.
In addition, such tests can return positive results for up to three days after a subject has last used marijuana and would no longer be considered high.
As more states legalize marijuana, a smartphone app could be used to determine acute cannabis intoxication, rather than just general usage.
The authors of the study, who include faculty fromStevens Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Tokyo and the University of Washington say future research should investigate how algorithms like theirs would rate in classifying people who use weed less frequently.
Most current marijuana tests can return positive results for up to three days after a subject has last used pot. The algorithm could help 'detect when a person might be experiencing cannabis intoxication and deliver a brief intervention when and where it might have the most impact,' researchers say
Belgium is looking into whether it can prohibit navigation apps such as Waze and Coyote from showing where alcohol and drug controls are set up, after France announced it would ban the practice from 1 November.
Drivers using navigation apps such as Waze or Coyote can, as soon as they notice a traffic jam, indicate via the app where exactly it is. The app then alerts other users so they can avoid the route.
However, this is also the case with police checks, which has raised some ethical questions, as it allows drivers who are under the influence to choose an alternative route.
The French government now wants to counter this practice and will require the apps to block certain messages and notifications for several hours. This will apply to alcohol and drugs checks, or when the police are looking for a fugitive, for example, but not to speed checks.
Federal Mobility Minister Georges Gilkinet is investigating whether a ban could also be introduced in Belgium and has ordered a study on this by the traffic institute Vias.
“Hopefully politicians will follow our recommendation and warnings like these will no longer be issued,” Vias spokesperson Stef Willems said on Flemish radio on Friday, adding that the institute has been in favour of such a ban for a long time.
“That is not only to do with road safety, but it is also about someone who is not insured, and so on,” Willems said. “If everyone starts continuously warning each other about such checks, then it is just those kinds of people who are going to get away.”
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) impairs driving performance and can increase crash risk. These effects are more pronounced in people who use THC occasionally and can last for up to eight hours with oral THC products. There is no evidence that cannabidiol (CBD) impairs driving. Patients using THC-containing products should avoid driving and other safety-sensitive tasks (eg operating machinery), particularly during initiation of treatment and in the hours immediately following each dose. Patients may test positive for THC even if they do not feel impaired, and medical cannabis use does not currently exempt patients from mobile (roadside) drug testing and associated legal sanctions.
Dalgarno Comment:The term ‘behaviourally tolerant’ when used in a clinical report about drug driving issues always raises a red flag.
The research affirms, not only what we instinctively know, but what decades of long fought for science has told us, that intoxicants impair motor and cognitive abilities. Increasing the potential of turning a vehicle into a weapon against public safety.
The fight to have BAC limits introduced was a long and difficult one, but such measures are instrumental in reducing road tolls and associated harms. The increasing push to normalize cannabis use and introduce it to the currents of trade, even if in ‘medicinal’ contexts, means an increasing incidence of people choosing to drive whilst ‘medicated’. We understand from long established research that airline pilots (image below) even after one low dose THC ‘joint’ failed on many task matrices.
The notable concern in the report was the reference to users ‘perception’ of their ability to drive with THC in their system. When drug user self-assessment becomes to diagnostic indicator of ability we have a serious problem.
It may be a factor to consider, but when the following statement: ‘Behavioural Tolerance’ is added to the criteria for evaluation, we have regressed, not only in thinking, but in methodology. It is like going back to the pre-RBT (Random Breath Testing) days of evaluating driving capacity whilst drunk. If one could ‘walk a straight line and stand on one leg’, then that individual was legally ‘capable’ of driving. Although you may have a BAC of .10 (twice the legal limit), if you can ‘prove behavioural tolerance’, then you can keep driving.
Intoxication and impairment cannot be left to subjective self-assessment, and very strict limits/penalties set on substances we know to diminish capacity and agency.)
World Federation Against Drugs (W.F.A.D) Dalgarno Institute is a member of this global initiative. For evidence based data on best practice drug policy in the global context.
The Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc. is to reduce the use of illegal drugs. We work to achieve this mission by conducting research, promoting ideas that are affordable and scalable...
Drug Free Australia Website. Drug Free Australia is a peak body, representing organizations and individuals who value the health and wellbeing of our nation...
(I.T.F.S.D.P) This international peak body continues to monitor and influence illicit drug policy on the international stage. Dalgarno Institute is a member organisation.
The National Alliance for Action on Alcohol is a national coalition of health and community organisations from across Australia that has been formed with the goal of reducing alcohol-related harm.
RiverMend Health is a premier provider of scientifically driven, specialty behavioral health services to those suffering from alcohol and drug dependency, dual disorders, eating disorders, obesity and chronic pain.
Imagine if you had to tell a family that their child was never coming home again...because a driver had a few too many drinks and they were too lazy to get a taxi? How would you feel if it was your child? Your brother, your parent, your best friend? Now imagine that you're the one who had a few drinks and thought...Home isn't too far. I'll make it without getting busted. While on the back streets worrying if the booze bus will catch you, you hit someone. How do you live with that for the rest of your life?
