Whereas consultants say marijuana use earlier than driving can impair motor and cognitive expertise, new analysis signifies no statistically vital impacts of decriminalization on the accident fatality fee.
A brand new research primarily based on insurance coverage statistics finds no proof of a hyperlink between the legalization of marijuana and better collision and/or fatality charges, based on a brand new report.
Particularly, the Canadian Institute of Actuaries (CIA) and the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) analyzed the impression of marijuana decriminalization on the vehicular accident expertise in each Canada and the USA. The research didn’t detect any statistically vital impacts of decriminalization on the automotive accident fatality fee, insurance coverage declare frequency, or common value per declare, notably over the long run.
Because it issues Canada, the analysis confirmed there have been no vital modifications to the development and seasonal differences in that nation’s visitors accidents after the change in authorized standing of marijuana. So, too, the estimated statewide results of leisure legalization within the U.S. don’t present any constant, vital outcomes that might assist a conclusion that decriminalization led to a rise in highway accidents or fatalities.
Noteworthy, the authors of the research state that “temporal patterns of human exercise reminiscent of yearly, weekly and each day cycles,” in addition to poor driving situations that include inclement climate are much better predictors of car crashes than marijuana decriminalization.
Nevertheless, earlier analysis within the U.S. tells a unique story. The Insurance coverage Institute for Freeway Security (IIHS) and the Freeway Loss Information Institute performed a sequence of research since 2014 inspecting how legalization has affected crash charges and insurance coverage claims within the first states to legalize leisure use.
In June 2021, the IIHS revealed findings relating to the newest of those research, which confirmed that damage and deadly crash charges in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington jumped within the months following the relief of marijuana legal guidelines in every state.
Mixed, the impression of legalization and, subsequently, retail gross sales within the 5 states resulted in a 6% enhance in damage crash charges and a 4% enhance in deadly crash charges in contrast with different Western states the place leisure marijuana use was unlawful in the course of the research interval. Solely the rise in damage crash charges was statistically vital.
