While there has been a nationwide decline in the number of traffic accident fatalities annually, there’s actually been an increase in the number of fatalities with drugs in their system. An analysis of 2009 accident fatality data indicates to Houston accident lawyers that the problem of drugged driving, which the federal administration has failed to tackle seriously, is now threatening to escalate to unacceptably high levels.

Among the accident fatalities that had drug tests performed on them, approximately 33% had drugs in their system. That includes both prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs. However, the number of accident fatalities in 2009 with drugs in their system could actually be higher, because these tests were not performed on all fatalities.

You don’t like to think about sharing the roads with a motorist who is driving with narcotics in his system, or one who is incoherent, dizzy or confused from his antidepressant medication. Unfortunately, the study shows that your risk of sharing the road with a motorist like this is far higher than you think.

Dealing with the menace of drugged driving is proving to be a bigger challenge than dealing with drunk drivers. With intoxicated motorists, law enforcement officers know what they are dealing with. In contrast, when you have people driving under the influence of prescription drugs, you may have a variety of symptoms to deal with. The most obvious symptoms are drowsiness, sleepiness and fatigue. However, certain medications may react with other drugs to cause dizziness, disorientation, muscular weakness, confusion, slurred speech, blurred vision and a variety of other side effects that could impair a person’s ability to drive safely.

A growing number of Americans are on prescription medication for a variety of illnesses, and these could interact with each other, creating side effects that even doctors are not aware of. Such motorists may be at a high risk of an accident, and not even be aware of it.

Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.

For more info on how Vuk can help you with your potential case please call him at (877) 724-7800 or fill out the contact form on the right.

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