A retrospective study of traffic offenses associated with driving under the influence of drugs in China

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and pattern of traffic offenses associated with driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) in 31 provinces of mainland China.

Methods

Traffic offenses were extracted from the nationally representative court file disclosure website. Drivers convicted of traffic offenses associated with DUID were included. The monthly percentage change (MPC) in rates was estimated by fitting negative binomial regression models to assess the time trends. Moran’s I was used to determine the correlations of DUID-related rates among surrounding provinces.

Results

In total, 896 individuals convicted of DUID offenses were identified (April 2007 to March 2022). Of these, 769 individuals were involved in traffic crashes, and they killed 629 people. Regarding the types of drugs, 638 used amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS; methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, amphetamine, and tenamfetamine), 104 used ketamine, 104 used opioids (heroin, morphine, methadone, codeine, and tramadol), 20 used caffeine, 4 used tetrahydrocannabinol, and 1 used gamma-hydroxybutyric acid. The offense trends among overall drug users (MPC, −1.1; p < .001) declined from 2014 to 2020. The trends also decreased for DUID-related traffic crashes (−1.5; p < .001) and deaths (−1.7; p < .001) during the same period. Except in three provinces, ATS-related offense rates were higher than opioid-related offense rates. Ketamine-related offense rates showed a significant positive correlation among the surrounding provinces (Moran’s I, 0.22; p < .01), and South China had the highest ketamine-related offense rates.

Conclusions

In the sample, the case fatality rate was 70.7%, which was a strong indicator of underreporting, and most minor DUID-related offenses could not be captured by Chinese court files. The frequency of drug screening tests for people should be increased. The traffic police in Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang should always be equipped with fast screening test kits for drugs, which could increase the possibility of identifying DUID offenders.

Keywords:

• Driving under the influence of drugs
• traffic offense
• amphetamine-type stimulants
• ketamine
• opioid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Scientific Research Starting Foundation of Southeast University, China (4013002304). The funding source was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or the decision to submit the article for publication.