Synergistic Effects and Collisions (Class Topic)

Synergism

While many drugs create synergistic effects with alcohol, they can also have similar effects with other drugs. The animation above involved a pickup traveling over the speed limit crossing into oncoming traffic and impacting a car head-on. The driver of the pickup was found to be under the influence of three controlled substances. The car slowed to 15 to 20 mph while the driver of the pickup failed to take any evasive action. Vehicle speeds were determined by analytical methods and by an ECM (located in the pickup). An ECM is an electronic module that records airbag pre-deployment data. The accident reconstructionists report states that it is his opinion that the pickup driver was exceeding the speed limit and failed to maintain a single lane of traffic was due to him being under the influence of controlled substances.