AAA: Drugged driving increasingly deadly on Long Island

<p>A new report from AAA found that drugged driving is posing a larger threat than drunken drivers, especially on Long Island.</p>

News 12 Staff

Aug 8, 2018, 11:20 PM

Updated 2,081 days ago

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A new report from AAA found that drugged driving is posing a larger threat than drunken drivers, especially on Long Island. 
According to AAA, fatal crashes in New York with drivers testing positive for drugs peak in the summer. They say August is the worst month for such deaths.
"Those using drugs and being killed on our roadways actually outnumbers those who were drunk and on the roads," says AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair. 
The study looked at 2016 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It says Suffolk County had 24 drugged-driver deaths — the most in the state. Nassau came in second with 11.
A quarter of those drivers tested positive for marijuana. 
According to the report, more drivers who are killed in crashes are testing positive for marijuana, but that doesn't necessarily mean those drivers were high at the time of the crash.
AAA says that regardless of whether marijuana is legal, drivers shouldn't get behind the wheel while impaired.  
"Certainly, you can have marijuana in your system and not be suffering from the psychotropic effects of the drug. It can stay in your system up to a month," Sinclair said.
And people between 19 and 21 years old received the most tickets for drugged driving.


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