The main concern regarding drugged driving is that driving under the influence of any drug that acts on the brain could impair a truck driver’s motor skills, reaction time, and judgment.

Drugged driving is a public health concern because it puts not only the truck driver at risk, but also every other vehicle and pedestrian that shares the road as we have seen in the colossal loss associated with accidents earlier listed.

Alcohol affects drivers’ judgment, awareness, Vision, response time especially in an emergency.

Psychoactive substance affects areas of the brain that control the body’s movements, balance, memory, judgment abilities as well as sensations. Drugs can also alter perception, cognitive behavior, attention and coordination required for safe driving. The effects of specific drugs abuse differ depending on their mechanisms of action, the amount consumed, the health history of the user and other factors.

Studies have found that many drivers who test positive for alcohol also test positive for marijuana, making it clear that drinking and drugged driving are often linked behaviors.

ALCOHOL IN THE BODY: THE PROCESS

Once swallowed, a drink enters the stomach and small intestine, where small blood vessels carry it to the bloodstream. Approximately 20% of alcohol is absorbed through the stomach out of which about 5% immediately goes to the blood stream through throat/mouth linings. The remaining 80% is absorbed through the small intestine.

Alcohol is metabolized by the liver, where enzymes break down the alcohol. Understanding the rate of metabolism is critical to understanding the effects of alcohol.

In general, the liver can process one ounce of liquor (or one standard drink) in one hour. If you consume more than this, your system becomes saturated, and the additional alcohol will accumulate in the blood and body tissues until it can be metabolized. This is why having a lot of shots or playing drinking games can result in high blood alcohol concentrations that last for several hours which could eventually lead to liver complications. At high doses, the respiratory system slows down drastically and can cause a coma or death.

If only a heavy drinker will in wisdom sleep out the period that it takes for the excess alcohol stored in the lever to completely metabolize and not engage in any demanding duty in the intervening period, then issues of drunk-driving and accident-related deaths or injury would have become a non-issue. But rather, the trend is that the drunk driver simply wants to continue with the delivery from where he left it off just before the drink binge. And that is where the problem lies!

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