The suit utilizes ankle- and wrist-weights to simulate slowed reaction times, while bandages on the neck, knees and elbows further slow movement. A pair of vision-impairment goggles produce flashing lights, blurring and tunnel vision. Finally, headphones play background noise to confuse and distract.
“Drug users sometimes see flashing lights in their peripheral field, an effect recreated by our goggles, while imaginary sounds are generated by the headphones. Additionally, the goggles distort perception, and produce colorful visual sensations – a side effect of LSD use,” said Meyer-Hentschel Institute CEO Gundolf Meyer-Hentschel.
The suit will be incorporated into Ford Driving Skills for Life, an educational program that is claimed to have already reached more than a half million people globally.
The company points to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study that claimed 18 percent of all motor vehicle deaths involve drugs other than alcohol, along with a 2013 National Institute of Health report suggesting the risk of being involved in an accident roughly doubles after marijuana use.
Another study released last year provides a slightly different take, after adjusting for more variables. The report suggests earlier studies may have failed to adequately correct for certain demographic considerations, particularly the higher usage of drugs by young males who, as a statistical group, are already more likely to be involved in a crash. Authors of the NHTSA-funded study concluded that the “significant increased risk of crash involvement associated with THC and illegal drugs … is not found after adjusting for these demographic variables.”
Researchers are gathering more data in states that have legalized marijuana to better understand the risks of drugged driving. National Institute on Drug Abuse scientists have also invited people to get drunk and stoned before hopping behind the wheel in a simulator, helping further quantify the effects.
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