Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows

originally posted by: tsurfer2000h
a reply to: yourmaker

The only thing dangerous about driving while stoned is getting pulled over by the cops

That's because your only doing 10 mph in a 35 mph zone. It's funny when they can walk next to you while pulling you over.

In all seriousness it's not like all stoned people react the same to pot.
Some can drive perfectly fine at reasonable speeds due to their tolerance.

originally posted by: Mon1k3r
Isn't it a little early in the game to be claiming that marijuana legalization is the cause for fewer highway fatalities? I can't imagine how any data set could be sufficient to support the claim at this point.

OP is not making a cause & effect argument. These are statistical observations from before/after a certain event(s) whether you can attribute that event as the cause or not.

originally posted by: Mon1k3r
Isn't it a little early in the game to be claiming that marijuana legalization is the cause for fewer highway fatalities? I can't imagine how any data set could be sufficient to support the claim at this point.

Did you read the article in question? He goes over the statistics and gives charts that shows the decrease over the years. While, yes, you cannot say definitively that it has gone down because of that, the end of the article points out correctly that if it had gone up the naysayers would have pointed that out a LONG time ago.

This is the paragraph that explains how to interpret the bar graph:

Here, the “high” bar (pardon the pun) is what you get when you add the worst January since 2002 to the worst February, to the worst March, and so on. The “low” bar is the sum total of the safest January, February, etc., since 2002. What’s notable here is that the totals so far in 2014 are closer to the safest composite year since 2002 than to the average year since 2002. I should also add here that these are total fatalities. If we were to calculate these figures as a rate — say, miles driven per fatality — the drop would be starker, both for this year and since Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2001. While the number of miles Americans drive annually has leveled off nationally since the mid-2000s, the number of total miles traveled continues to go up in Colorado. If we were to measure by rate, then, the state would be at lows unseen in decades.

SOMETHING is causing this and odds are it is due to a substantial change in the environment to cause a substantial change in the statistics. Right now legalization is the only substantial change in the environment of Colorado that is worth noting. Anything else wouldn't be very noteworthy. So it may not be direct evidence of correlation, but it is certainly a very telling sign.

a reply to: yourmaker

In all seriousness it's not like all stoned people react the same to pot.
Some can drive perfectly fine at reasonable speeds due to their tolerance.

Without breaking T&C's all I can say is I know that first hand, and that is all I can say about that.

I was just interjecting a little humor into the thread that's all.

Well, I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want ANY "drugged divers" OR their shenanigans to be on the same road as me!

I mean, what the hell are they doing there in the first place???

a reply to: the_philth

Good luck with that considering that prescription pill usage is through the roof. But we aren't allowed to talk about all the people who pop a perc or two for their "back" and drive to work or where ever. Nah, it's the nasty marijuana that we have to worry about. Until they regulate pill usage and driving, I refuse to get behind any regulation against being high on marijuana and driving.

They are just not wanting to drive so much after a smoke.

Surely, if there is a causal link, this is the only sensible explanation?

The idea that there are thousands of pot-smoking car drivers in Colorado who have exemplary driving skills while under the influence is too funny.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: the_philth

Good luck with that considering that prescription pill usage is through the roof. But we aren't allowed to talk about all the people who pop a perc or two for their "back" and drive to work or where ever. Nah, it's the nasty marijuana that we have to worry about. Until they regulate pill usage and driving, I refuse to get behind any regulation against being high on marijuana and driving.

^ this

Also, I drive for a living. I'm pretty sure sober people are horrendous drivers.

a reply to: strongfp

Greening out

That sounds a heck of a lot more pleasant than blacking out

originally posted by: CJCrawley
They are just not wanting to drive so much after a smoke.

Surely, if there is a causal link, this is the only sensible explanation?

The idea that there are thousands of pot-smoking car drivers in Colorado who have exemplary driving skills while under the influence is too funny.

I'd say that that is a reasonable thought considering that "couch-lock" is a symptom of imbibing certain strains of marijuana (it doesn't just have to smoked you guys). For anyone who reads this and doesn't know what couch-lock is, use your imagination. It won't be hard to figure out.

a reply to: GoShredAK

In the UK, it's a Whitey....

As for the OP, it's an interesting observation, but as it points out, fatalities were falling anyway. That said, someone who I may or may not know or even be can drive perfectly fine as long as...erm, he/she/me/them/you....gives it an hour or two before setting out and tend to be much more relaxed than most of the angry morons on the road who cause the accidents.

This is exactly what us at the Illuminati are worried about!
Lower deaths!
Lower prison sentences!
Lower ticketing and penalty rates!
Lower taxes and Guberment costs!
Lower Cancer rates!
Less use of prescripts!
No reason to stop and seize!

a total disaster....

and twenty five percent of ATS members make their living working for alphabet agencies who are providing or interdiction of this stuff.....

Given that Colorado is raking in millions, maybe people are spending so much on weed that they can't afford gas anymore.

Check the bicycle accident and walking funny stats, please.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

This goes back to what I heard when I was much much younger.

Stoners don't drive, but drunks do.

Stoners are too paranoid to take a chance, but drunks are all Mario Andrette.

originally posted by: Eunuchorn

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
a reply to: the_philth

Good luck with that considering that prescription pill usage is through the roof. But we aren't allowed to talk about all the people who pop a perc or two for their "back" and drive to work or where ever. Nah, it's the nasty marijuana that we have to worry about. Until they regulate pill usage and driving, I refuse to get behind any regulation against being high on marijuana and driving.

^ this

Also, I drive for a living. I'm pretty sure sober people are horrendous drivers.

I agree a thousand percent with these two statements --- it's simple - drunk drivers (not "divers") are far more dangerous behind the wheel of an automobile than pot smokers. That's not a statement, it's a fact! Anyone who argues with that is simply in Debate mode and they just can't comprehend common sense.

Stoners (depending on whether they're decent drivers in the first place - and the type of strain they've just ingested), are less likely to get into an auto accident; smoking marijuana does not impair your judgment whatsoever... the plant enhances things like perception and judgment.

Alcohol on the other hand --- well, we know what happens when most people get drunk and decide to get behind the wheel, most of us get lucky when we make it home and safely park the car (is it possible we're on Auto Pilot when that happens?) - but while we're smashed out of our minds on alcohol, there's a severe possibility of us falling asleep at the wheel and slamming into a tree - or worse!!! That's the history and reality of boozing behind the wheel.

According to MADD, based on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 10,322 people died in drunk driving accidents in 2012, compared to 9,865 in 2011.

Common sense tells us we shouldn't do stupid things --- and one of those stupid things is driving while intoxicated... but I personally think the weed is FAR less impairing than an over-consumption of alcohol or certain pharmaceuticals.

... but that's just me!

a reply to: the_philth

Drunk driving isn't the leading cause of car accidents, I am sorry but it's not true. Distracted driving is - texting, looking at a hot girl, eating a sandwich etc.

Think about how many times a cop would hear "I was just driving along and I looked down for a second and BOOM!"
I made a post earlier about drinking and driving, and how it's been demonized, only a small fraction of the people who get behind a wheel after a night of hard drinking will get into an accident, most won't get behind a wheel and those who have had a few get penalized heavily for it. Out of those 10,000 some odd accidents that are 'caused' by alcohol how many were actually above .08? How many were below .05? MADD is one of those organizations who sucks up money for a cause, but also sucks up stats to work in their favor, they will literally take ANY case where alcohol is involved and twist it around to say the cause was the substance.

Again, I am not advocating getting behind the wheel after 5+ pints or rum and cokes, but at the same time I won't advocate some dude who just sucked up an ounce of weed either. It's all about moderation, and understanding the substance.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Im sure fridays and saturday nights now go something like this

Person 1 lets smoke a jones and go drinking

Person 2 hell ya

Ingestion occurs

Person 1 what were we gonna do again?

Person 2 I forgot. Lets just smoke another jones

Person 1 hell ya

originally posted by: the_philth
Well, I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't want ANY "drugged divers" OR their shenanigans to be on the same road as me!

I mean, what the hell are they doing there in the first place???

I agree!

I say we ban those dastardly coffee drinkers and cigarette smokers (almost there with them anyway, right?) because their amped up antics due to their stimulant use is causing me worry on the road! All those speeders and tailgaters are most surely coffee heads, I want them GONE!

Thanks for you post! Glad to see some reasonable people are out there!

originally posted by: intrepid
Folks, remember. Just because we can discuss this now it doesn't mean that talk of personal use is allowed.

It is quite strange how those same people are not overweight. There will never be the truth that says weed kills and causes obiesity.


Right now the feds are creating bs road test in an attempt to show the need for fines and dui's. It is very telling that they did not use the same driving test coarses already set up for alchol. They knew that the people would pass the coarse so they designed one that is biased toward depth perception.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Pheeewww, I thought the end of your title was gonna end in "highs".

Go pot!

People are probably to stoned to drive anywhere. Less money spent on pricey gas, less carbon emissions in the air, and more money for food and weed!

I'm hoping in our lifetimes it becomes legal federally.

Here's to hoping....