VIDEO. Cocaine while driving: the new scourge

After the accident caused by Pierre Palmade, investigate these more and more drug addicts on our roads. Users of cocaine and other narcotics take the wheel without realizing the risks they run and the danger they represent for other motorists. Result, sometimes shattered lives and opposite, for these speeders, convictions often considered far too light by the victims. In 2021, in France, nearly 600 people would have lost their lives as a result of accidents involving a driver under narcotics.

Driving under the influence of narcotics: many recurrences

This is what almost happened to Priscilla and her mother in October 2022. She managed to extricate herself from her damaged car on the hard shoulder of the motorway near the Arcachon basin, but she still feels traumatized. Priscilla suffered a cracked foot bone and now suffers from chronic pain. His mother has lifelong consequences: paraplegic, suffering from a head trauma and having lost the use of her left arm, she has not left her hospital bed for five months. A man who tested positive for cocaine and alcohol hit them at 130 kilometers per hour. He is being prosecuted for involuntary violence with aggravating circumstances. According to Priscilla’s lawyer, he faces care obligations, a suspended prison sentence and the cancellation of his driver’s license. A regular cocaine user, he had already been indicted seven times. A time bomb ?

On the road, are the dangers of narcotics underestimated? In France, the number of convictions for driving under the influence of narcotics is skyrocketing, and one convicted driver in five is a repeat offender.

A report by Anaïs Bard, Olivier Sibille, Juliette Jonas, Julien Fouchet, Lila Bellili and Marielle Krouk broadcast in “Special Envoy” on March 30, 2023.

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