​​​Good morning, Chair and members of the Committee. My name is Tom Chapman. I have the honor of serving as the 46th Member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of House Bills 4390 and 4391. This important legislation would allow Michigan law enforcement officers to collect and test oral fluid to detect drug use by drivers. It responds to a key recommendation which NTSB issued in 2022 to Michigan and 28 other states. Our 2022 recommendation calls on states to modify impaired-driving laws to allow for oral fluid collection, screening, and testing to detect drug use by drivers.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and other drugs remains a leading cause of highway crashes. More than 40,000 lives are lost annually on our roads, and approximately 30 percent of traffic fatalities result from crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers. Additionally, other drugs, including illicit, prescription, and over-the-counter drugs, can negatively affect driving performance and increase crash risk.

NTSB’s 2022 safety research report entitled “Alcohol, Other Drug, and Multiple Drug Use Among Drivers” found that while alcohol remains the most prevalent drug found among impaired drivers in toxicology data, about half of all impaired drivers tested positive for other potentially impairing drugs or multiple drugs. This tells us that alcohol-related countermeasures must remain the highest priority. But countermeasures that effectively address other drugs and drug combinations are also important and much needed.

Given the added complexities of detecting drug-impaired driving, it is important that state laws facilitate, and do not restrict, law enforcement from using all available proven tools. Although some states still restrict alcohol and other drug testing to samples of blood, breath, or urine, our 2022 safety research report found that oral fluid is a valuable — but underused — biological specimen for detecting driver drug use, and it can help support enforcement of impaired-driving laws.

Oral fluid collection allows for rapid and less invasive biological specimen collection, and oral fluid is less likely to be susceptible to alteration than urine. Because it can be collected at the roadside, oral fluid can provide early and objective evidence of drug use. Samples can also be collected sooner, which minimizes the opportunity for drugs to metabolize out of a driver’s system.

It is because the benefits are well-established that NTSB recommends that Michigan and other states modify impaired-driving laws to allow for oral fluid collection, screening, and testing to detect drug use by drivers.

That concludes my statement on behalf of the National Transportation Safety Board. I am happy to take your questions.​