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Wisconsin drug-driving death rates match alcohol-related equivalent

Wisconsin, USA, has one of the highest drink-driving rates in the country, even though alcohol-related traffic accidents have been in decline for the past ten years.

But, as drink-driving rates have decreased, drug-driving rates have increased as the opioid crisis has worsened and marijuana use has become more widespread. Because of these divergent trends, drug-related traffic deaths in Wisconsin reached the same level as alcohol-related traffic deaths, with 118 deaths reported for each cause of death in 2016.

According to Randy Romanski, Safety Programs Chief with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, traffic accidents where the driver tested positive for drug use increased by 150% between 2007 and 2017.

Romanski attributed the increase in reported drug-driving deaths to both the increased availability of drugs and to better toxicology testing methods when investigating fatal vehicle crashes.

The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), a national transportation safety group, reported that 44% of fatally injured drivers in 2016 who had a toxicology screening after death tested positive for drug use. The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene reported seeing similar results when conducting drug tests.

The GHSA report recommended that states should expand their focus on impaired driving to include opioids and marijuana, as well as alcohol.

In the past, Wisconsin focused its enforcement and education efforts on alcohol. Those efforts have been effective in reducing the incidence of alcohol-related traffic accidents, and state transportations officials are hopeful that the similar measures they recently introduced to combat drug-driving will be as successful.

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