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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. \u2014 Two state transportation workers were replacing a sign on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 6 in western Colorado one morning when a Jeep Grand Cherokee swerved off the road and struck them.<\/p>\n
The workers, Nathan Jones and Trent Umberger, died in the September 2024 crash, as did a passenger in the Jeep. Tests found that the driver, Patrick Sneddon, then 59, had oxycodone and six times Colorado\u2019s presumed impairment threshold for THC \u2014 the psychoactive compound in cannabis \u2014 in his blood. He pleaded guilty and is serving 30 years in prison<\/a> on three counts of vehicular homicide and other charges.<\/p>\n \u201cOur four children are completely crushed without their Dad,\u201d wrote Kristine Umberger, the wife of Trent, in a victim impact statement for the local district attorney. \u201cWe have lost our ability to live life like we used to.\u201d<\/p>\n Federal highway safety officials have long tracked the role of alcohol in fatal crashes, but they don\u2019t track deaths that involve a driver under the influence of drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol.<\/p>\n That discrepancy is partly due to the challenges of proving impairment, since some drugs remain detectable for weeks after use. Sneddon\u2019s attorney, Jennifer Gregory, said a driver can be presumed impaired under Colorado law if their blood contains 5 nanograms of THC or higher per liter. But that \u201cpermissible inference\u201d threshold is different from a legal limit \u2014 such as the 0.08% blood alcohol content limit \u2014 and the level set by Colorado is not supported by published scientific studies, Gregory said.<\/p>\n Such information could prove useful as the nation struggles with an opioid crisis<\/a>, the Trump administration loosens federal regulations<\/a> on marijuana, and more than 40 states have legalized or decriminalized some forms of cannabis and psychedelic drugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cImpaired driving is a top public safety issue that extends beyond alcohol,\u201d said Sean Rushton, a spokesperson for the federal highway safety agency, which is tackling the issue collaboratively, with resources to ensure a \u201ccomprehensive and coordinated approach.\u201d<\/p>\n But President Donald Trump\u2019s cuts to the federal workforce since he returned to office in 2025, along with dwindling federal investments, mean that efforts to expand and improve the tracking of impaired-driving deaths nationwide have slowed.<\/p>\n The gap in data can be significant. In Mesa County, Colorado, where Jones and Umberger were killed, the coroner\u2019s office tracks various forms of impaired-driving fatalities. From 2017 through 2024, a third of traffic deaths involved alcohol alone, according to data from the county coroner\u2019s office.<\/p>\n When drugs are factored in, nearly half of Mesa County\u2019s traffic deaths over the same period involved a driver intoxicated with alcohol, drugs, or a combination, according to the coroner\u2019s reports.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to solve a problem, you need to understand the problem,\u201d National Transportation Safety Board researcher Jana Price said. \u201cIf you only know that alcohol is present, then it limits your ability to fully understand what might have been impairing a person or a population of people. It trickles into the countermeasures that we use as a society to address the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n