spokenfour

Its disturbing to me to see distracted,and DUI drivers . More disturbing still are the knots of kids I see getting high while they wait for the bus.

Spld cyclist

I think we're on relatively new ground regarding safety statistics for pot-using drivers. In a couple of years, it'll be interesting to see what happens in Washington and Colorado, as greater numbers of people start using it or maybe more choose to use it instead of alcohol.

My take on this is that smoking pot has less impact on driving ability than alcohol does. However, I'm sure that pot negatively impacts motor skills, perception, and judgement, and therefore it's really unacceptable to smoke pot and drive. I also suspect that the effect of combining pot and alcohol is more than additive. I don't have studies to cite for this. Lets just say I have, umm, "a friend" who did all this back in the day.

Mr. Hairy Legs

I had a similar "friend", and I agree completely.

RaleighSport

Fascinating.. so no actual reasoning, just the fact you yourself lacked control when you were partaking? I'm not going to play the "my friend" game here, we're all big boys and girls with our respective big peoples pants, I also think it's fairly obvious that I myself used to smoke from my stance.. and I'll even throw this in, the majority of human beings should not smoke pot... however I don't get to decide that for them. Reading through this thread it's fairly obvious people are set about how they feel about this.. whether their stance is based in reality and facts or through a smoky dim sit of memories.. or even the people who are biased by the anti-pot propaganda..

Can anyone produce FACTUAL evidence that stoned drivers put them in danger? Everyone seems to agree, alcohol, cell phones, etc are all more dangerous than a stoned driver... so what level of hazard do you really suppose these guys present?

Spld cyclist

The thing about "my friend" was an attempt at humor; sorry if you didn't get it.

If you didn't notice changes in motor control, perception, and judgement when smoking pot, either you didn't inhale or pot doesn't affect you the way it affects everyone else. And if it doesn't affect you that way, I don't know why you would bother to do it. That's what it does.

I don't care if anyone chooses to smoke pot. I care very much if people choose to smoke pot and then drive, because it puts me and everyone else in danger.

Your appeal to logic and fact is bizarre. Anyone who has smoked pot knows that it makes profound changes to your mental state, and those changes are not conducive to safely operating a vehicle. It's highly logical to believe that anyone in that state shouldn't be driving.

surreal

Nice.

I've definitely caught whiffs of the schpliff while riding, and i usually have a pretty strong guess as to which care it came from, but I can't say with any certainty. It doesn't disturb me nor bother me until someone in a schmoky car actually endangers me. My motto: nothing's a problem, until it's a problem.

mikeybikes

I haven't smoked in years, but I will say I was definitely a much worse driver high than sober. Though, I don't know how much worse and we don't have the statistics right now to accurately state how much worse.

RaleighSport

I can tell by your response you could care less what the facts say and that's fine, but hey... my "bizarre" logic, is based on facts and studies.. as well as personal experiences. I notice you're still dancing around my real question WHAT HAZARD DO THEY ACTUALLY POSE TO YOU? Yes I agree their reaction time slows.. that is an affect of the drug, what you neglect to go into is that if you smoke enough to be that adversely affected you more than likely will not drive, and if you smoke less, you're most likely to compensate by driving slowly in the slow lane... (which is pointed out in the study....)Which raises a curious point... you know this, you know I'm not bothering to lay out full context and yet you attempt to imply I don't understand how the drug works because I don't agree with you. I can't really see this particular conversation moving forward at all, although I think I knew that though from your initial response. As for your "humor" I could care less I was more concerned with the content of your "thoughts" on the matter.

ColnagoC40

I would have no idea whatsoever? What does it smell like?

Spld cyclist

I'm perfectly safe as long as chance prevents me from coming across a high driver on the roads. Problem is, I have no knowledge of drivers' mental states, control over their decisions to drive, or actions when they do choose to drive. It's better if they don't drive high and I hope that the police continue to enforce DUI laws as they apply to drugs and alcohol.

You're apparently relying on a single metaanalysis described on the NORML site, which has a well-known slant on MJ in general. Feel free to google and read the first few links that pop up. There are more balanced articles, citing other research, showing that there probably is increased risk. Not nearly as much risk as with alcohol, but it appears to be real. And as I mentioned earlier, there is solid evidence that the combination of pot and alcohol is much worse than either alone. I think it's safe to say that mixing the two is common.

I do agree that this conversation has outlasted its usefulness. I won't respond again.

ItsJustMe

I can smell either tobacco or mj smoke from passing cars, easily. It's not a subtle smell.

RaleighSport

Not to continue the debate at all, but the "first few google" results are just what pop up there, the NORML site believe it or not is about as close to balanced as you're going to find, since most of these studies start off with a negative assumption that they then attempt to prove (AKA not science). Ride safe out there!

WarrenR

I commuted to work for many years and observed that on my way to work the pot smell come from work vans and trucks, on my way home the smell came from Porsche's, Cadilac's and Lexus's. Blue collar workers going to work, white collar workers going home to the family. Too funny!

tattman23

^^ THAT's perspicacious!

trailangel

You need this:

Keith99

Sounds good to me, they should share more than just the road!

phoebeisis

Marijuana is VERY pungent
and it sticks to fabric
Yeah a well tuned nose could detect it-even from a closed vehicle-especially if he is a non smoker(both types).
Now the OP is certainly exaggerating a bit to make his point-
granted exaggerations is rare on A&S
Guessing his point is there are LOTS of impaired drivers out there-no surprise
The Texting drivers are probably a bigger risk than the dopers.
Dopers MIGHT be extra careful-obey laws etc- because they DON'T want to attract LEO attention.

I regularly smell weed on people, but Texters and folks talking on phones give me more pause than dopers
Nothing I can do about it-so I don't lose any sleep over it.

lsberrios1 

I've smelt it a few times. They usually have the windows down. It is dangerous because smoking while driving can cause an accident and impair the driver just as bad as drinking and driving does. I do know that people do that since I am pretty young still and remember being 18 and hot boxing the car just to get SUPER high with the windows up. Then you'd roll down the windows and it'd look like a coal powered train on the road.