The National Safety Council applauds the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration campaign, If You Feel Different, You Drive Different, and its goal to curb impaired driving crashes. Despite decades of education and enforcement, nearly 10,000 people are lost each year to alcohol-impaired driving. Now, with the country’s opioid epidemic and several states approving medicinal and recreational marijuana use, impairment on their roads is an even more complex issue.
Drivers must understand that alcohol impairment begins with the first drink, and marijuana use affects both decision making and reaction time. Additionally, opioid use can seriously jeopardize safe driving.
Education, legislation and high visibility enforcement can change behaviors. NHTSA’s campaign rightly focuses on all three. The National Safety Council is pleased to support If You Feel Different, You Drive Different, and we look forward to the day when impaired driving crashes are a thing of the past.
The National Safety Council is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to eliminate preventable deaths at work, in homes and communities, and on the road through leadership, research, education and advocacy. Founded in 1913 and chartered by Congress, NSC advances this mission by partnering with businesses, government agencies, elected officials and the public in areas where we can make the most impact.
