British study puts cannabis behind the wheel
LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - A group of British motorists will smoke marijuana and then get behind the wheel as part of a government study to measure how the drug affects their judgment.
``We will be testing them on the driving simulator to look at their performance, their reaction time and their ability to perceive hazards to see what effects cannabis has,'' Dr Rob Tunbridge, head of impairment studies at the Transport Research Laboratory, told BBC radio on Wednesday.
The government ordered the new study after a three-year research programme indicated that one in six road accident victims had traces of cannabis or other illegal drugs in their systems. A similar survey 10 years ago showed it was one in 20.
The ``drugged driving'' research also comes on the heels of a report by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) showing that young drivers were twice as likely to be under the influence of drugs than over the legal drink driving limit.
The Transport Research Laboratory, which has a Home Office licence to use cannabis in its study, will have 16 test subjects smoke the drug to try to establish whether there is a direct connection to road accidents.
``The link is not proven,'' Tunbridge said. ``This is clearly a very important political issue. Whether it's a road safety issue is another point.''
Results are expected to be released within three months.
``The thing about cannabis is that all of the tests that have been done previously in other countries...suggest that cannabis has a completely different effect to alcohol,'' Tunbridge said.
``Rather than giving you 'Dutch courage' and confidence, it actually makes you much more cautious in your approach to driving. That doesn't necessarily mean, of course, that it will improve your driving.''
The RAC, which also cautioned that many prescription and over-the-counter drugs can impair driving, wants to introduce a ``traffic light'' system of green, amber and red ratings that would indicate a particular drug's effects on motorists.
``It is extremely worrying that the use of banned drugs and driving has grown so rapidly,'' RAC managing director Graeme Potts said.