Researchers at the Connecticut Transportation Institute conducted a study of resident’s cannabis use habits. A survey was used to collect self-reported time waiting after cannabis use to drive and opinions about the associated driving risks.

The findings revealed more frequent cannabis users of both medicinal and recreational cannabis reported waiting less time before driving. Frequent cannabis users were also found to not perceive cannabis use as risky driving behavior, although those who rated cannabis as having a highly negative impact on their driving ability were not more likely to wait before driving after using cannabis. Suggestions for practitioners wanting to highlight the impact of cannabis on driving ability are to consider other factors that may impact the decision to drive under the influence of cannabis, (i.e., psychological factors and ingestion type). This full manuscript, “Self-reported impacts of recreational and medicinal cannabis use on driving ability and amount of wait time before driving”, has been published in Traffic Injury Prevention.

Citation: M. E. Auguste & V. C. Zambrano (2023) Self-reported impacts of recreational and medicinal cannabis use on driving ability and amount of wait time before driving, Traffic Injury Prevention, DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2023.2172679 

The CTSRC’s Marisa Auguste was the lead investigators for this project. Ms. Auguste obtained a graduate degree in Criminal Justice from the University of New Haven and a bachelors degree in Sociology from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her previous research includes an observational study of pedestrian crossing behaviors, distracted driving, and COVID-19’s impact on crash rates.

For more information about Ms. Auguste’s work, visit ctsrc.uconn.edu