Doing all we can to address drug-impaired driving: data and beyond (SoTaxa)
Shift into Safe News
Several states have deployed hundreds of SoToxaTM analyzers as an Oral Fluid Field Screening (OFFS) instrument to facilitate the detection of drugged drivers in their states. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicated that the feasibility of collecting samples in proximity to the crash event continues to be a challenge; however, oral fluid collection at the scene of a crash event is efficient and reliable. Many substances are rapidly metabolized by the body following consumption, with cannabis having an increased presence in toxicology samples across the country. The active substance in cannabis, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), drops by over 80% within 90 minutes of smoking, creating an urgency to close the gap between the time of consumption and collection. By utilizing data from oral fluid screening, law enforcement officials can prioritize samples in order of acquisition upon arrival in the laboratory.
The completeness of reporting drivers involved in fatal crashes who were under the influence of drugs is poor. In a report submitted to Congress earlier this year, NHTSA found that reporting the testing of fatally injured drivers remains challenging and significantly varies by state. Citing 2019 FARS (Fatality Analysis Reporting System) data, the completeness of reporting by states varies from more than 90% to less than 10%, with an average of 60% for all states. Multiple agencies, including the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), stated that the lack of and unreliability of data are a problem. By using oral fluid, the data sample and subsequent results can be collected at the closest proximity to the driving event.
NHTSA recognized the limitations of the FARS framework and added new data fields in 2022 to include drug specimen, drug test result (for all substances within panel) and drug test status. Further efforts to increase the completeness of data were instituted in 2023 to designate drug testing methods (i.e., screening vs. confirmatory) and actual quantities of drugs detected. Oral fluid is deemed an acceptable sample for reporting and identified as such in the 2022 Edition of the FARS/CRSS Coding and Validation Manual.
North Dakota recently completed an evaluation of SoToxaTM as an OFFS instrument used at the scene of impaired driving incidents. The study found that oral fluid had an accuracy rate of 94% for cannabis when compared with blood. SoToxaTM provides analysis of oral fluid for amphetamines, methamphetamine, benzodiazepines, cocaine, opioids and cannabis. North Dakota found that between 2020 and 2023, screening for this panel of drugs represented 80% of the top ten (10) drugs detected by the laboratory in blood. With the addition of fentanyl, this panel would represent 90% of the top ten drugs identified in the blood by the laboratory.
NHTSA has cited oral fluid for detecting the presence of drugs as a solution as early as 2009. Oral fluid was utilized in the 2007 National Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers and will be the only testing device used for the next iteration of this survey. The NTSB has been advocating for states to adopt oral fluid for more than a decade and “recommends that … [states] modify their impaired driving laws to allow for oral fluid collection, screening and testing for the detection of drug use by drivers.”
