Symposium: Blood Drug Concentrations and Impairment
Date: Sunday, August 26
Co-Chairs:
Dr. Asbjørg Christophersen (asbjorg.christophersen@fhi.no)
Dr. Jørg Mørland, (Jorg.Morland@fhi.no)
Per se offense levels for blood or breath alcohol have been widely adopted, and there are a range of effects on driving widely recognized as being associated with increasing blood alcohol concentrations. With drug impaired drivers, positive blood test results confirm the use of drugs by the driver, but there are additional challenges to interpreting the results in terms of impairment.
This symposium has been planned to review different approaches in use throughout the world for assessing and interpreting blood drug concentration data in impaired driving cases, concentrating on the most frequently encountered drugs. Presenters will discuss the limits of what we currently know and where additional research needs to be conducted. The symposium will also include a discussion of how to set per se levels for impaired driving statutes, based on current knowledge, for the most frequently encountered drugs.
Accident risk, experimental and epidemiological evidence will be presented for stimulants, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, and opioids.
Other presentations topics will include:
- How do we test accident risk caused by drugs?
- Approaches in use include, analysis of epidemiological data, quasi-experimental studies on drug impairment, as well as tests of coordination, reaction time and cognitive processing, assessed through computer tests, driving simulators, and on-road driving studies. Presenters will discuss which experimental protocols have the best real-life relevance.
- Which brain functions are critical to safe driving?
- Driving is a complex divided attention task, with cognitive and psychomotor components. Integration of various sensory inputs, value based decision making, and psychomotor response are all differentially affected in different ways by various classes of drugs. Presenters will assess the empirical effects of drugs on driving.
- Is there a scientific basis for setting legal limits for non-alcohol drugs?
- There are political, scientific and policy reasons for using either empirical approaches, or statutory per se approaches to drug impaired driving legislation. Presenters will assess the effectiveness of various approaches in use throughout the world.