Learning to drive responsibly: Effects of drugs and medications on drivers
If you’re learning to drive responsibly, you should know that many accidents are due to drug or alcohol use, or driving while taking certain medications. All types of drugs affect our ability to drive. These effects are called undesirable effects and affect each person to a different degree.
Medications
These are some of the undesirable effects that certain medications might cause:
-Drowsiness and reduced state of alertness
-Blurry vision or altered vision and problems focusing.
-Auditory problems like humming or noises in the ear.
-Vertigo
-Tremors
When you’re learning to drive responsibly, it’s important to know how different medications affect you. If you are taking a medication, it is important to read the instructions well so you know what potential secondary effects may be. You can also ask your doctor how your medication may affect your driving.
You have to be especially careful with psychotropic drugs, as they affect your mental state and are the most dangerous to drivers. They are divided into three groups:
-Stimulants: Used to control depression and ADHD. High doses may produce a euphoric effect.
-Calmative: Decrease reaction time and reduces mental activity and levels of alertness.
-Sedatives: Decrease anxiety and cause the same delays as calmatives.
Drugs
If you’re learning how to drive safely, you have to know that drugs can create a physical and mental dependency in drivers, which makes it infinitely more difficult to drive a car. Its effects are divided into different groups:
-Stimulants: Increase dopamine and neuronal activity, creating a sensation of satisfaction.
-Depressives: Reduce physical and neuronal activity.
-Hallucinogens: Alter the subject’s perception of reality.
Cannabis, calmatives, and other depressive drugs greatly affect the subject’s reactions and reduces reflexes. This is dangerous for both the driver and those who are driving around him.
Cocaine, ecstasy, and other stimulants make you feel more confident and create a sensation of control, which makes the driver feel like they can drive, but they may have changes in sight or hearing and reflexes.
Lastly, hallucinogens like LSD and mushrooms cause hallucinations and change how we perceive reality. Its effects vary depending on the mood of the person who takes them, and they may make psychological problems worse.
The concentration of drugs in the blood doesn’t last long, but its effects usually last for more than two hours. Driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol is very dangerous and should be done under no circumstance.
Check out this video that of drivers using Ford‘s Drug Driving Suit to simulate driving under the influence.