Pubdate: Sat, 20 Sep 2003
Source: West Australian (Australia)
Copyright: 2003 West Australian Newspapers Limited
Contact:  http://www.thewest.com.au
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/495
Author: Nick Miller
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DRUGS TIED TO ROAD HAZARD

DRIVERS under the influence of amphetamines get tunnel vision and often 
fail to spot potential road hazards, new Australian research has found.

Even small doses of the illegal drug, known as speed, cause drivers to 
signal incorrectly and regularly run red lights.

Their attention span is shorter and reaction time longer.

Researchers gave 20 subjects, men and women aged in their 20s, controlled 
amounts of dexamphetamine, a close chemical relative of the street drugs 
speed, crystal meth and ecstasy.  The subjects were then run through 
driving tests on a computer simulator.

Research team leader Dr Katherine Papafotiou said the amount of amphetamine 
administered was a small dose, at the low end of blood concentrations 
detected in recreational users.

However, even at these levels the subjects' driving levels were impaired, 
with an increase in incorrect signalling and running red lights, and a 
slower reaction time.

Amphetamine use has recently been on the rise across Australia, with an 
estimated 300,000 people using the drug recreationally.

National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre figures reveal that over the past 
decade the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to amphetamines 
has doubled.

The organisation DrugArm claims that nearly one in six people between the 
ages of 20 and 29 take amphetamines on a regular basis.

And another study released earlier this year by the Australian Institute of 
Criminology found that two in five traffic offenders in the East Perth 
lockup tested positive to amphetamines - the highest number out of four 
sites surveyed across Australia.

Dr Papafotiou said dexamphetamine seemed to give the subjects a kind of 
tunnel vision, where they had trouble concentrating on more than one thing 
at a time, and did not notice events or objects at the fringes of their 
field of vision.

"We found the drivers (under the influence of amphetamines) were fighting 
to attend to several things at once," she said.  "While driving you have to 
divide your attention.  You get several stimuli at the same time and have 
to respond to them."

There is a perception among young drivers that they are less likely to get 
caught if they drive affected by drugs other than alcohol, WA Office of 
Road Safety executive director Iain Cameron said.

There was a need to educate young drivers about the dangers of drug driving.
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