Deadly Oklahoma crash highlights need for increased education about impairing effects
WASHINGTON (Jul. 18, 2024) –The National Transportation Safety Board issued a Safety Alert Thursday urging parents nationwide to protect their teen drivers from marijuana-impaired driving.
The alert is accompanied by the final report on the investigation of a deadly 2022 collision between a Chevrolet Spark and a semi-trailer truck in Tishomingo, Oklahoma, that killed six teenagers. NTSB investigators determined that the 16-year-old driver, likely impaired by recent use of marijuana, failed to completely stop at a stop sign and then turned left in front of an oncoming semi-trailer loaded with gravel.
Marijuana has impairing effects—it decreases motor coordination, slows reaction time, and impairs judgment of time and distance, all of which are critical for driving. Despite several states legalizing marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, driving under the influence of marijuana is not only unsafe but also illegal in all states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
“The lesson from this tragedy is painfully clear: marijuana is an impairing substance, period—and it’s a lesson we can’t afford to wait until driver’s ed to teach,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “We’re already behind when it comes to traffic safety, and marijuana-impaired driving is exacerbating the crisis. States have to do a better job of protecting road users from impaired drivers, regardless of the substance or its legality.”
In the safety alert, the NTSB educates parents on the risks and outlines what they can do to protect their teens against marijuana-impaired driving. This includes:
- When talking to your teen about driving safety, be sure to address the risks of marijuana-impaired driving.
- Talk to your teen about the risks of marijuana use and its impairing effects on motor coordination, judgment, and reaction time. Discuss how marijuana use can negatively affect your teen’s ability to drive safely.
- Remind your teen that driving while impaired is illegal. Some states have zero-tolerance policies not just for impairment, but for any recent marijuana use before driving.
- Discuss strategies for making safe and responsible choices to avoid marijuana-impaired driving or riding with marijuana-impaired drivers.
- Set the example by driving unimpaired by any drugs (legal or illegal). Be consistent between the messages you give your teen and your own driving behaviors. Novice teen drivers most often learn by observing their parents.
The NTSB issued new safety recommendations focused on ensuring teens drivers are taught about the dangers of marijuana-impaired driving as part of their driver and classroom education and made additional recommendations for measures that can help reduce crashes that involve drug impairment. Recommendation recipients include the Oklahoma State Department of Education, Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, Governors Highway Safety Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, National Association of State Boards of Education, and American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. The NTSB also reiterates an existing safety recommendation to the state of Oklahoma and another one to 19 states, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
The safety alert, final investigation report on the Tishomingo crash, and more information about teen and young driver safety can be found on the NTSB’s website.
To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).
