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Australian daily cannabis users' use of police avoidance strategies and compensatory behaviours to manage the risks of drug driving835.09 kB
Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Australian daily cannabis users' use of police avoidance strategies and compensatory behaviours to manage the risks of drug driving
Drug and Alcohol Review, Vol.42(6), pp.1577-1586
2023
PMID: 37323052
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Introduction: Daily use of cannabis is increasing in Australia, yet there is limited understanding of the driving behaviours within this cohort, including how they perceive and manage the risks of being apprehended for drug driving and involved in a crash after consumption.
Methods: An online survey was completed by 487 Australians who reported daily cannabis use (30% medically prescribed patients, 58% male).
Results: Current drug driving (i.e., driving within 4 h of consuming cannabis each week) was reported by 86% of participants. Future drug driving was anticipated by 92% of the sample. While most participants (93%) disagreed that their risk of crash increased following cannabis use, participants reported that they would drive more carefully (89%), leave greater headway (79%) and/or drive slower (51%) following cannabis consumption. Half of the sample (53%) perceived the risk of apprehension for drug driving to be likely to some extent. Strategies to reduce the likelihood of being detected were used by 25% of participants, and included using Facebook police location sites (16%), driving on back roads (6%) and/or consuming substances to mask the presence of drugs (13%). The regression analysis revealed that individuals who reported more occasions of cannabis use per day, and who perceived that cannabis does not reduce driving ability, reported a greater extent of current drug driving.
Discussion and conclusions: Interventions and education which aim to challenge this perception that 'cannabis does not reduce driving ability' may prove important for reducing drug driving among the most frequent consumers of cannabis.
Details
- Title
- Australian daily cannabis users' use of police avoidance strategies and compensatory behaviours to manage the risks of drug driving
- Authors
- Laura Mills (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research CollaborationJames Freeman (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research CollaborationBevan Rowland (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research Collaboration
- Publication details
- Drug and Alcohol Review, Vol.42(6), pp.1577-1586
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.1111/dar.13705
- ISSN
- 1465-3362; 0959-5236
- PMID
- 37323052
- Copyright note
- This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. © 2023 The Authors. Drug and Alcohol Review published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.
- Grant note
- Motor Accident Insurance Commission
- Organisation Unit
- Road Safety Research Collaboration; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Law and Society; Sexual Violence Research and Prevention Unit
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99735298802621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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