As weed legalization chugs along in the United States, some issues about safety have cropped up, namely the dangerous scenario of people driving while high. That experience may be different from drunk driving, but that doesn't mean it's less dangerous. Marijuana specifically poses a risk to a driver's reaction time that endangers the driver and others on the road. A new PSA cleverly demonstrates the dangers of driving while under the influence of weed by tackling the topic of slowed reaction time.
The short ad begins by relaying a pretty shocking statistic: 19 percent of DUI's in Colorado are from marijuana, according to the Colorado State Patrol. In the bottom right corner of the screen, you'll see that "Skip Ad" button we all love to see when an ad pops up, but the fun starts once the countdown from five is finished: the button starts to jump around the screen, a cunning way to delineate how smoking weed impairs a driver's reaction time. "Marijuana impairs reaction time...as proven by the fact that you can't catch this skip ad button," the PSA says.
Another official PSA from the Colorado Department of Transportation and Amélie Company illustrates a similar idea by showing a totaled car getting rolled into a joint as the sounds of a car accident echo in the background. "Rolling one up now could be rolling one over later. Driving high impairs your perception of speed, time and distance," the ad says.
If you look at the Colorado Department of Transportation's website, you'll see that drugged driving incidents have increased since 2012 when Colorado decriminalized weed. That's why these new PSA's are so important. If you're high, don't drive. Be careful out there.
