While Tennessee has not joined the ranks of the states that have legalized the recreational use of marijuana, that does not mean that plenty of Tennessee residents may not be headed to those states as part of their summer vacations. At the same time, it is a reality that illegal use of marijuana may well happen in Tennessee and that illegal use may include people driving after consuming the drug. In either of these situations, innocent people may be at risk of being involved in an accident caused by a drugged driver.
An agency that performs insurance research, the Highway Loss Data Institute, conducted a study taking a look at accident insurance claims in multiple states, including three states where pot had been legalized for at least part of the time during the study. What the institute found in its analysis that Washington, Oregon and Colorado all saw jumps by more than two-and-a-half percent in the number of insurance claims filed for motor vehicle accidents after marijuana was legalized versus before.
The study included some time before pot was legalized as well as some time after. It also compared data from those three states to data from states where marijuana was not legally able to be used recreationally.
When on the road this summer, Tennessee residents who are involved in accidents and believe another driver may have been under the influence of a substance may want to reach out to an attorney to learn how to get help in this situation.
Source: NBC29.com, “Insurance study ties legal pot to boost in car crash claims,” Solomon Banda, June 21, 2017