Smoking pot certainly does make one lazy and inattentive. Not as bad as getting blind drunk, but still risky to drive a car. Just don't do it. Enjoy the buzz and then go out and drive.

I would be a menace.

In my partying days, I did drive after some beers.

But I NEVER drove after smoking. I found myself incredibly paranoid and drove like a snail the only time I did it.

Neither is good.

Driving is a task that requires full concentration.

It's much harder for me to focus on driving stoned than straight. We've had this discussion in here before, so I know I'll be "corrected," by the thou must not say anything bad about weed ever bunch.

... Have you considered that your perception of it being more difficult to focus while driving was actually a result of your focusing much more on your driving?

I'm not just pulling this out of my butt. For 50 years the statistics have shown that people who have a couple of drinks before driving actually have a lower than average accident rate, probably because they are being more careful because they know they are potentially impaired.

Similarly, we know that THC can affect reaction times and attentiveness, so no effect emerging in the statistics must necessarily imply some sort of positive adjustment in the driver. Stronger concentration could be one answer to that.

At least I do. It's very anti-being-high. It also raises the degree of difficulty, for me at least. More effort for the same non-result.

The encouraging thing is that many people seem to be aware of potential impairment and drive with the concentration that driving probably deserves all the time.

I recall that in the 1980s, German luxury-car makers were extremely resistant to the idea of putting cup-holders within reach of the driver in their cars. They considered drinking anything while driving, especially hot coffee, to be a dangerous distraction and a safety issue that no serious driver would ever consider.

It was only after their U.S. sales numbers were visibly impacted that they decided to include cup-holders, and then they made the craziest, most over-designed, sometimes even motorized cup-holders. BMW still held out for another 20 years!

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/08/germanys-bmw-surrenders-to-usas-cupholder-fixation/1

Remember that scene from Up In Smoke? Where they are just sitting in the car not moving at all and the car is full of smoke.

That scene still makes me laugh until I hurt.

than from stoned on pot.

Acid? Use mass transit!

Sounds like you crash a lot.

Theoretically, this creates legal problems for prosecutors, after authorities arrest a suspect for driving under the influence, because the effects of pot only lasts for hours. That said, I agree; "Caution should be exercised in assuming that drug presence implies driver impairment."

But still not safe to do. If I had ever done it, I would have found it to be the ultimate buzz kill. You need to concentrate hard and force yourself to stay focused.

Even so, driving while impaired on anything is against the law in most, if not all, states. Driving under the influence is illegal for good reasons.

Granted, it's less likely than being drunk, but it's still risky. The fear/paranoia of crashing makes you slow down and be alert, but you're still high and your reactions are impacted. Don't think so? Try waterskiing or mountain biking when you're stoned.

Not to mention clarity of attention and a bunch of other things.

And I should be up front that I've never been stoned myself (just never got around to it), but I've been around enough other people who were and observed their demeanor to know that people are impaired when stoned. You're kidding yourself if you allow yourself to think otherwise.

Big problem that. All you can do is compare it other intoxicants that you are familiar with or anecdotes or the propaganda pounded into your head for the last fifty years.
I get stoned. Everyday. For 30 years my job was driving. 200 miles a day average. Traffic, no traffic. Freeways and surface streets. Well over a million miles. All of them high. No accidents, no tickets, no close calls, no nothing. (And comedy aside, I drive the speed limit or with traffic just like everyone else).

It makes you more aware. It does nothing to reaction times or motor skills or decision making. It also calms me down, makes me a far better, more considerate driver. Without it, I would be road raging on people.

And I'm observing them when I'm straight and can make a comparison to when they're not stoned (because, unlike you, not everyone gets stoned every day).

Enough other people here who do use are challenging these "no risks" findings that lead me to think that, perhaps, you react differently to it.

Or maybe you've just been damned lucky.

Ether way, you're not going to change my mind and I'm not in any mood to argue about it, so how about we just drop it.

And have a great holiday!

How do you know they are stoned? We don't wear signs saying '" man I've got a righteous buzz going", (okay there was that one time, but I was drunk as hell) when we get loaded you know?.

Did you give them a spot reaction test?

there are many more like you, but I think you guys are the exception. There are plenty of people who function better with prescription amphetamines, or prescription sedatives, as well, but they too are the exceptions. Most people perform complicated tasks better while straight. Surely you don't think most all professional drivers and pilots would do their jobs as well, or better, if they were stoned. Do you?

As long as they aren't drunk (and I'm talking A beer) or peaking on psychedelics (peaking) or on Heavy opiates, then I got no truck.

Someone asked me once if I could drive with someone stoned, and I told them I prefer it. No road rage issues. No aggressive driving. No high speed issues. One beer makes me afraid nowadays, but if you want to drive across the USA tonight, smoke a couple of ounces along the way, well I'm your guy.

Just perception and judgment which may or may not affect your driving ability.

How can something that affects perception and judgment NOT affect your driving ability?

And many people can compensate for small differences in perception and judgment when driving slightly "impaired", old people do it all day, every day. So do drivers that are fatigued. So do people who drive with just one functional eye. So do deaf people.

...which I no longer do, I felt extremely nervous or even paranoid which would go away after I had a drink. Thus, I would feel more comfortable driving when drinking AND stoned, obviously a bad combination. I don't know whether I drove better but I felt better. I limit both these days and do neither when driving.

It's ridiculous to suggest that there's no risk to driving stoned even if that has been one individual's experience.

It was the weirdest feeling. I felt I was riding far too fast and at the same time far too slow.

I have no idea how fast I was actually travelling. I seem to recall getting the needle to an appropriate level so that I wouldn't attract attention from the boys and girls in blue.

I believe my relatively poor recollection of the event is due to the time since elapsed (40+ years) rather than my level of intoxication with either drug. I never rode much under the influence. And never again under the influence of both.

stoned on weed and never as much as had a fender bender. I had a couple when I was stone cold sober though, nothing serious

Or when some drunk jackasses tried to run me over and I didn't have a chance to get out of their way

Weed makes my already quick reflexes even quicker.

How fast am I. Putting in some new fluorescent bulbs in my shop light fixture and I guess I didn't get the first one in right, as I was putting in the other one the first one fell, I caught it about mid chest. Like I said quick as a cat, mean as a junk yard dog, thats me

Oh I was probably stoned then too as I spent the better part of 50 years stoned

and I would include in that lack of sleep and looking at a cell phone.

That said, I think that alcohol is a far bigger problem in terms of driving, and the fact that THC is detectable for weeks in people after smoking pot is the reason why prohibitionists are trying to puff up the threat of "stoned driving" to stop cannabis legalization.

I've driven a lot of miles stoned but I still don't think it's a great idea to drive on anything at all. If you would get pulled over or in a wreck you are in a lot more trouble if you are stoned on something.

I don't think you should ever drink and drive. Drinking really impairs your ability to drive.

Talking on a cell phone or texting is the worst of them all because you just aren't paying attention to what is going on around you.

could be a real hazard on the road.

I can't stand to drive with him if he is not stoned. If he's not stoned, he thinks everyone is driving to slow, he is in a rush to get where we are going and gets to close to the car in front. Stoned - he is a relaxed driver and the world is a good place and everyone seems to be a good driver. He's never had an accident or even a ticket.

driving drunk, driving stoned is an incredibly bad idea. While it's unlikely a stoned driver is going to speed or be reckless, a stoned driver will be more forgetful and more easily confused and distracted. Like I said, drunk driving is way, way, a thousand times worse, but to say "being stoned is not a driving risk" is just wrong. It's wrong practically by definition; you're STONED!

I want to say I totally support complete legalization marijuana for recreational use, but I also support the illegality of driving while intoxicated with any substance. Driving while straight and sober is dangerous enough as it is.

Do you support scientific study and data analysis to come to a reasonable standard for impairment?

Develop a test for that and it's all good.

Or so I've heard . . .