Statewide Iowa — (RI) — Officials in the Iowa Department of Public Safety want to analyze blood samples from drivers who die in SINGLE-VEHICLE accidents, to determine if drug or alcohol-use contributed to the crash.
Chandlor Collins, a policy adviser in the agency, says Nebraska, Minnesota and Michigan are already collecting this data.
About 70 fatal wrecks in Iowa last year involved a single driver. Collins says blood samples in those instances are rarely, if ever, collected to determine if the driver was impaired because there’s no liability issue since no one else was injured or killed in the accident.
A senate subcommittee is working on a bill that would require county medical examiners to draw blood from drivers killed in a single-vehicle wreck. Senators say there are issues, like proper training, to address.
