December brings two of the most celebrated days of the year, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but they’re also among the deadliest, as the merriment often brings over drinking. Just a single drink can cause a decline in visual function, mental judgement and motor skills, resulting in driver impairment. But alcohol isn’t the only cause of impaired driving; illicit drugs, including opioids, marijuana, prescription drugs, and even some over-the-counter medicines can impair driving. Even fatigue and sleep deprivation can impair your ability to drive.
When it comes to alcohol you don’t have to be legally drunk to be impaired while driving. Alcohol slows down information processing from the eyes, ears and other senses. It delays reaction time and impairs judgment. The legal limit to drive is a blood alcohol concentration below 0.08 percent, yet at 0.02 percent, a person is likely to be inclined to make poor judgments. When the blood alcohol reaches 0.05 percent, people are likely to speak louder, make more gestures and lose control of small muscles. Vision may become blurry. At 0.08 percent, coordination, balance, reaction times, and speech are seriously impacted. Memory may also be impaired. When a person’s blood alcohol content reaches 0.1 percent, coordination of the arms and legs is poor, reaction time is reduced and speech will be significantly slurred.
Drugs, including prescription meds, can have similar, if not more severe, effects. They can cause dizziness, drowsiness, and even hallucinations. All these factors combined can make it difficult for drivers to stay in their lanes, judge distances accurately, and respond appropriately to sudden changes on the road. Cold and allergy medicines, antidepressants, and sleep aids can cause drowsiness, nausea, irregular heartbeat, shakiness and blurred vision, putting motorists at risk.
Studies have shown that sleep deprivation can have an even greater impact on impaired driving than alcohol. One on-the-road study showed that one night of sleep deprivation had been demonstrated to increase the likelihood of lane drifting, affect the ability to maintain a constant speed, and increase the chance of a collision. Some estimates indicate that driving after being awake for 18 hours is like driving with a blood-alcohol level of .05. Driving after 24 hours of sleeplessness is like driving with a .10 blood-alcohol level. According to the most recent National Highway Transportation Safety Administration data, there were 1,065 fatal car accidents in Louisiana that killed 768 people and 106 of these accidents might have been caused by drowsy driving.
Be Safe on the Road
- It’s important to read and follow all warning labels on medications before driving.
- If you have ingested an impairing substance, do not drive; take an UBER.
- Do not get in a vehicle if the driver has taken an impaired substance.
- Always wear your seat belt.
- If you see a vehicle operating like the driver may be impaired, call the police to report it.
State DUI laws that make it illegal to drive impaired by any substance can result in arrest. This includes prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
Note: Having a prescription for a drug or medication that causes impairment isn’t a valid defense to a DUI charge.
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