Introduction - Course Overview and Objectives

Welcome to Wise Traffic School's Traffic Law and Substance Abuse Education Course.  If you are under 18 years of age, this course is one of the prerequisites that must be completed before you can receive your learner's permit for a driver's license.  If you are 18 years or older, this course must be completed if you have never held a driver's license in another state or country.

Why does the State of Florida require a person who wants to get a learner's permit or first time driver's license to attend the Traffic Law and Substance Abuse Education course?  The State of Florida believes that the knowledge of traffic laws and safe driving practices can save lives on our highways, and our state is particularly concerned about the dangers of driving while impaired by alcohol or drugs.  The goal of this course is to reduce traffic crashes and the loss of life and injuries caused by them.

This course has the following objectives:

• First, to enhance understanding of traffic laws and safe driving practices.

• Second, to highlight the dangers of using alcohol and drugs and especially the dangers of driving while impaired.  In our country, impaired driving is one of the leading causes of traffic fatalities so the avoidance of impaired driving is a major focus of this course.  Impaired driving is a factor in about 30% of our traffic deaths.  Although it is against the law for anyone in our state to use illegal drugs, and for those less than 21 years of age to consume alcohol, many of our citizens use illegal drugs, and many under age people drink alcohol.  When alcohol and drug use are mixed with driving, the results are often deadly.¹

• Third, to encourage students to make a commitment to abide by traffic laws, including laws regarding impairment and speeding, and to follow safe driving practices, like staying focused on the driving task and avoiding distractions like cell phones and texting.  To prevent traffic crashes, we must put the knowledge of safe driving practices and traffic laws into practice.

When a person is killed in a traffic crash, the person's family may request a circular marker to memorialize the spot along the roadway where their loved one was killed.  Many times these memorial markers do not seem to designate particularly dangerous locations on our roads.  However, research into the details of these fatal crashes usually indicates that adherence to traffic laws and safe driving practices would have prevented the crash and the resulting loss of life.  In this course, we will be addressing these preventable causes of crashes.

In our state there have been many examples of young, under age drivers who have been killed or who have killed other people when driving under the influence.  In one crash, a 16-year old driver and her 17-year old passenger, another young woman, were killed when the driver lost control of her vehicle at 2:00 AM coming home from a party.  Her blood alcohol level (BAL) was .21, two and a half times more than the .08 BAL where a person is presumed by law to be impaired.  In this tragic crash, it was reported that the crash sequence began with the young woman driving well over the posted speed limit.  It was estimated that she was driving at 70 miles per hour in a 45-mile per hour speed zone when she lost control of her vehicle.  The vehicle rapidly crossed from the right side of the roadway then flipped over as it hit the grassy median, traveling over the opposite lane of traffic and ultimately stopping upside down in a ditch filled with water.²

Numerous laws and safe driving practices were violated in the sequence of events that led to this fatal crash: 

• The driver and passenger, who were both under 21 years of age, had broken the law by consuming alcohol.

• The driver's blood alcohol level was .21.  In our state, a driver is presumed to be impaired with a blood alcohol level of .08 so her blood alcohol level was two and a half times the level where impairment is presumed.

• The driver was speeding.  It was estimated that she was driving 70 mph in an area where the speed limit was 45 mph.

• 16-year olds are not permitted to drive after 11:00 PM.  This crash occurred at 2:00 AM.

• The combination of alcohol and speed resulted in the driver losing control of her vehicle.

Of the many causative factors in this crash, drinking and then driving while impaired were by far the most important.  Drinking impairs our skills and judgment.  We lose the good judgment needed to make the decision not to drive while impaired, the good judgment needed to abide by the 11:00 PM curfew for 16-year old drivers, and the good judgment and awareness needed to drive the speed limit.  Had this young woman been sober and driving the speed limit she would have been less likely to lose control of her vehicle.  It is sobering to realize that poor judgment exercised over a few seemingly harmless hours of teen drinking resulted in the loss of two very promising lives.  But unfortunately, tragic stories like this happen all too often in our state and in our country.

This course will address the following subjects:

• Physiological factors related to alcohol and drug use
• Psychological factors related to alcohol and drug use
• Societal and economic costs of alcohol and drug abuse
• Effect of alcohol and drug abuse on the driver
• Traffic laws and safe driving practices

Before we begin our discussion of the physiological and psychological factors related to alcohol and drug use, it is useful to review the data on the numbers of young people in our country who are using alcohol, tobacco and drugs.  Each year the Federal Government conducts a survey, called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, to gain information on the use of alcohol, illicit drugs, and tobacco by the U.S. population.  In this annual survey, the Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), interviews about 67,500 people, age 12 and older, including 3600 people in Florida.³

Alcohol

According to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the following percentages of people in our country currently use alcohol, which is defined as using alcohol in the past 30 days.³

Alcohol is used by about half of those in the 18-20 year group.  Also, the numbers of young people who admit to binge or heavy drinking and driving while under the influence of alcohol is alarming.  Looking at all age groups, males are about two times as likely as women to drive while under the influence.

Alcohol and tobacco are gateways to the use of illicit drugs by young people.  About 70% of youths, age 12-17, who are heavy drinkers are also illicit drug users.  This is about 14 times the 5% of young people who do not use alcohol but use illicit drugs.  Also, about 45% of youths, age 12-17, who are binge drinkers are also illicit drug users, about nine times the percent of young people using drugs who do not also use alcohol.  Early alcohol use can lead to alcohol dependence and abuse problems later in life.  Adults, age 21 and older, who first used alcohol at age 14 or younger are seven times more likely to suffer from alcohol dependence or abuse than those who had their first drink at age 21 or older.³

Tobacco

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health also gathers information on tobacco use.  In this survey, use of tobacco includes:  cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco.  By far, most young tobacco users are smoking cigarettes.  The following chart shows the percentage of young Americans who have used tobacco products within the past month:³

As with young alcohol users, use of tobacco products is associated with higher rates of illicit drug use by young people.  Over half of those in the 12-17 age group who used tobacco in the past month also used an illicit drug while about 6% of those who did not use tobacco in the past month used illicit drugs.  A young tobacco user is nine times more likely to use illicit drugs than a young person who is not using tobacco.³

Illicit Drugs

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health lists the nine categories of illicit drugs shown in the chart shown below.  Four of the categories, Pain Relievers, Stimulants, Tranquilizers and Sedatives are included in the illicit Psychotherapeutic drug category because these prescription drugs are being used for non-medical, and therefore illicit, purposes like getting high.  (Note: later when we address short and long term effects of illicit drug use, we will treat tranquilizers and sedatives as central nervous system (CNS) depressants.  According to this survey the following approximate percentages of people in our country are using illicit drugs.³

Alcohol, tobacco and drug use among young people can have very negative outcomes and should be avoided.  For those approaching the end of their teen years, about half are current alcohol and tobacco users.  However, it is noteworthy that young people who use illicit drugs make up a small minority of their peers.  About one in seven teens are current users of marijuana which means six of seven teens are not current marijuana users.  Also, 95% or more are not using other illicit drugs including prescription drugs taken to get high, cocaine/crack, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants.^3,4

For persons aged 12 or older, males are about twice as likely as females to be current users of illicit drugs.  For youths age 12-17, males are slightly more likely than females to be current illicit drug users.  Males are more likely to use marijuana but females are more likely to use prescription drugs.³