Drug-Impaired Driving: The Contribution of Emerging and Undertested Drugs

In 2022, an estimated 13.6 million people drove under the influence of illicit drugs. When investigating impaired driving cases and traffic fatalities, the National Safety Council currently recommends that forensic toxicology labs regularly test blood for 35 of the most common drugs and metabolites found in these cases. 

However, limitations can interfere with our understanding of how frequently drug use contributes to impaired driving incidents. To better understand this, NIJ funded researchers from the Center for Forensic Science Research and Education examined blood samples from over 2,500 cases and created a more detailed picture of how both Tier I and Tier II drugs contribute to impaired driving. 

Read all of the findings.