Abstract
This study aims to investigate the presence of drugs in this group of drivers who already had a crash (injured or killed drivers). By law, the prosecutor is the authority who requests the toxicological examination specifying the type of analysis that will be performed, usually only alcohol test is required. There has been some investigation regarding the influence of alcohol in traffic crashes in Albania (3,190,089 inhabitants), but never a research regarding the use of illicit and medicinal drugs in drivers in our country. Alcohol was analyzed in blood by head-space gaschromatography. Blood samples were also screened for psychoactive substances (opiates, cocaine metabolites, cannabis, amphetamines, methamphetamines, benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants, barbiturates) by immunological methods. Their presence was confirmed by gas-chromatography. Overall, 82 car drivers were included in the study. Drivers involved in accidents were more frequently men 98.8% (n=81). 46 drivers (56.1%) had a positive blood alcohol concentration at the time of the crash, but only 23 (28%) had toxic concentrations exceeding 1.2 g/l. In total, 15.9% were positive for illicit drugs and medicinal drugs. This study revealed that beside alcohol, psychoactive substances were present in Albanian crashed drivers, too.
Highlights
The effects of alcohol consumption on safety behavior of drivers have been reported in different studies [1,2,3,4]
Research had shown that illicit drugs and psychoactive medicinal drugs may increase the risk of traffic accidents [5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
Regarding Albania, alcohol investigations are performed in crashed drivers [21,22] but it is never investigated about the use of drugs of abuse among drivers involved in road crashes
Summary
The effects of alcohol consumption on safety behavior of drivers have been reported in different studies [1,2,3,4]. The most important research projects carried out in the EU aimed to quantify the size of the drink- and drug driving problem in Europe; it was shown that the injured or killed drivers, the most commonly consumed substance was alcohol alone, followed by alcohol combined with other substances [12,13]. Similar investigation took place in different European countries and a number of studies on drink and drug driving were published [14,15,16,17,18,19,20]. Regarding Albania, alcohol investigations are performed in crashed drivers [21,22] but it is never investigated about the use of drugs of abuse among drivers involved in road crashes
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