Journal article
The acute effects of vaporized cannabis on drivers’ hazard perception and risk-taking behaviors in medicinal patients: A within-subjects experiment
Journal of Safety Research, Vol.92, pp.385-392
2025
PMID: 39986857
Appears in UniSC Supported Open Access Outputs
Abstract
Introduction: As the medically prescribed use of cannabis flower continues to increase, there is a need to understand how vaporized cannabis can acutely affect driving-related skills and risk-taking behaviors in medicinal populations. Method: Given this, the present study examined the acute effects of vaporized cannabis flower on measures of hazard perception, driving-related risk-taking behaviors, and subjective perceptions of driving skills in a sample of adult medicinal cannabis patients. Participants (N = 38, M age = 43) attended both a baseline (no cannabis) and intervention appointment (with cannabis consumption), where they completed video-based tasks and self-report measures of driving ability. Results: After vaporizing one dose of their prescribed cannabis flower, participants exhibited no significant changes in performance on any of the video-based tasks (hazard perception skill, gap acceptance, following distance or speed) compared to baseline. However, cannabis consumption resulted in significant reductions in perceived hazard perception task performance and on-road traffic conflict prediction ability. Furthermore, there was a lack of association between objective and subjective hazard perception performance at both time points. Practical applications: These results suggest that while acute prescribed cannabis consumption may reduce appraisals of selected skills, overall hazard perception ability and driving-related risk-taking behavior may remain unchanged.
Details
- Title
- The acute effects of vaporized cannabis on drivers’ hazard perception and risk-taking behaviors in medicinal patients: A within-subjects experiment
- Authors
- Carla Schiemer (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research CollaborationMark S. Horswill - The University of QueenslandAndrew Hill - The University of QueenslandMathew J. Summers - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - PsychologyKayla B. Stefanidis (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Road Safety Research Collaboration
- Publication details
- Journal of Safety Research, Vol.92, pp.385-392
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.jsr.2024.12.004
- ISSN
- 1879-1247
- PMID
- 39986857
- Copyright note
- © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/).
- Grant note
- This research is funded by the Motor Accident Insurance Commission.
- Organisation Unit
- Road Safety Research Collaboration; Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health; School of Health - Psychology; School of Law and Society
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991090897402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
Metrics
12 File views/ downloads
143 Record Views
InCites Highlights
These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Ergonomics
- Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
- Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
- Transportation
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
Source: SDGs from InCites