Drugs/Alcohol and Transportation Are Always a Deadly Mix

Every day, the lives of millions of people depend completely on the operators of trucks, airplanes, ships, trains and cars being substance abuse-free. In dozens of studies done around the world, in the National Transportation and Safety Board investigations of fatal and non-fatal accidents in the U.S., drugs and alcohol have come up thousands of times as factors in accidents.

As in the collision of the Cosco Busan in San Francisco Bay in 2007. The pilot was suffering from sleep apnea and was taking modafinil, a drug that can cause confusion, difficulty seeing, hallucinations or thoughts of suicide. One report stated that he was also taking Valium.

And as in the collision of the Metrolink commuter train in Los Angeles in 2005 in which the train struck a vehicle at a railroad crossing. The driver of the car, Juan Alvarez, admitted that he had been trying to kill himself by placing himself in the path of the train but had changed his mind at the last moment and left the vehicle. Mr. Alvarez suffered from an addiction to methamphetamine.

The Federal Aviation Administration investigates instances of pilot fatalities, and between 1999 and 2003, it made tests of 1629 pilots who were fatally injured in accidents. Drugs or alcohol were found present in 52 percent of those accidents.

A 2005 study by The Walsh Group in Maryland found that of 168 admissions to a trauma center for motor vehicle accidents, more than 65 percent tested positive for either drugs or alcohol.

“These facts all point out the urgent necessity to send anyone suffering from addiction to treatment that will enable them to live a drug-free life,” emphasized Derry Hallmark, the Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in Canadian, Oklahoma. “Our safety and our very lives might depend on that person who is addicted. They might be driving our bus, administering medical treatment, or being an air traffic controller. For our families to grow up in a safe environment, we must enable people to overcome addictions and achieve drug-free lives.”

To read the entire article, please go to: Transportation and Substance Abuse. Or visit the website of Narconon Arrowhead.