School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2020;21(8):521-526. doi: 10.1080/15389588.2020.1810246. Epub 2020 Aug 28.
While attention has been given to how legalization of recreational cannabis affects traffic crash rates, there was been limited research on how cannabis affects pedestrians involved in traffic crashes. This study examined the association between cannabis legalization (medical, recreational use, and recreational sales) and fatal motor vehicle crash rates (both pedestrian-involved and total fatal crashes).
We used crash data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) to calculate monthly rates of fatal motor vehicle crashes and fatal pedestrian-involved crashes per 100,000 people from 1991 to 2018. Changes in monthly crash rates in three states that had legalized cannabis (Colorado, Washington, and Oregon) were compared to matched control states using segmented regression with autoregressive terms.
We found no significant differences in pedestrian-involved fatal motor vehicle crashes between legalized cannabis states and control states following medical or recreational cannabis legalization. Washington and Oregon saw immediate decreases in all fatal crashes (-4.15 and -6.60) following medical cannabis legalization. Colorado showed an increase in trend for all fatal crashes after recreational cannabis legalization and the beginning of sales (0.15 and 0.18 monthly fatal crashes per 100,000 people).
Overall findings do not suggest an elevated risk of total or pedestrian-involved fatal motor vehicle crashes associated with cannabis legalization.
虽然人们已经关注到娱乐用大麻合法化如何影响交通事故率，但对于大麻如何影响涉及交通事故的行人，研究仍十分有限。本研究调查了大麻合法化（医用、娱乐用和娱乐用销售）与致命机动车碰撞率（行人参与的和总致命碰撞）之间的关联。
我们使用来自致命事故分析报告系统（FARS）的碰撞数据，计算了 1991 年至 2018 年期间每 10 万人中致命机动车碰撞和致命行人参与碰撞的每月发生率。使用具有自回归项的分段回归比较了三个大麻合法化的州（科罗拉多州、华盛顿州和俄勒冈州）与匹配的对照州的每月碰撞率变化。
在医用或娱乐用大麻合法化后，我们在合法化大麻的州和对照州之间没有发现行人参与的致命机动车碰撞的显著差异。在医用大麻合法化后，华盛顿州和俄勒冈州的所有致命碰撞立即减少（-4.15 和-6.60）。科罗拉多州在娱乐用大麻合法化和销售开始后，所有致命碰撞的趋势呈上升趋势（每 10 万人每月增加 0.15 和 0.18 起致命碰撞）。
总体结果表明，大麻合法化与总致命或行人参与的致命机动车碰撞风险升高无关。
