Dangers of Driving While Impaired by Prescription Medicine
Before a recent fatal traffic accident in Georgia, a passenger sent a text to her sister's cell phone expressing her concern that the driver had just taken Oxycontin, a powerful narcotic for which the driver had a prescription. Soon thereafter, the passenger was dead as a result of a car accident for which the driver has not yet been charged, pending further investigation.
Anyone who operates a motor vehicle has a duty of care to their passengers and to anyone else on the roadways, including pedestrians. The reasonableness of the driver's actions may be judged on the particular circumstances or conditions that existed at the time of the accident. For instance, a driver's conduct would be considered reasonable if he or she was driving under the posted speed limit, but it was snowing heavily or the roadway was covered in dense fog. Driving while impaired from alcohol or any other substance would be considered unreasonable behavior under any circumstances.
Arizona has a "per se" law, Section 28-1381(a)(1) of the Arizona Revised Statutes, that prohibits individuals from driving if they have a detectable amount of a prohibited drug or its metabolite in their blood. The law permits Arizona law enforcement to arrest a driver even if the driver had a legally prescribed drug in his or her system that even slightly impaired his or her ability to drive.
Many drugs can remain in an individual's system for several days, so if a driver was arrested for impaired driving, or DUI, that person could test positive for a particular drug even if it was ingested days before the driving incident. Even if the drug was legally prescribed and regardless of if the motor vehicle operator knew it could cause drowsiness, that person could still be considered to be driving while impaired if he or she was speeding or driving recklessly, or caused an accident. If that person caused an accident that resulted in injuries to other people (passengers of any vehicle involved in the accident or pedestrians) that driver may be held liable for the injuries suffered as well.
According to Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, Arizona's highway system is ranked as one of the most unsafe in the United States. Although legislators recently passed laws regarding distracted driving, they do not require motorcyclists to wear helmets nor do they require mandatory testing of drivers involved in fatal crashes, like the one that killed the Georgia woman concerned about her driver's prescription drug use.
