Delays in blood collection and drug toxicology results among crash-involved drivers arrested for impaired driving

CONCLUSIONS: Crash severity and the time of day at which a crash occurs can result in delays in the collection of blood specimens after impaired driving arrests. Because drugs often continue to be metabolized and eliminated between arrest and biological specimen collection, measured concentrations may not represent the concentrations of drugs that were present at the time of driving. This has the potential to affect drug-impaired driving prosecution, particularly in jurisdictions whose laws specify per se impairment thresholds.PMID:38648016 | DOI:10.1080/15389588.2024.2333918
Source: Traffic Injury Prevention - Category: Accident Prevention Authors: Source Type: research