NU Online News Service, April 9, 12:15 p.m.EDT

A provider of free online auto insurance quotes says it hasconducted a study that concludes marijuana uses are saferdrivers.

Manhattan-based 4AutoInsuranceQuote.com says its study “seeks to dispel thethought that 'driving while stoned' is dangerous.”

“What law enforcement agencies and insurers do not understand isthat driving while high is actually a safe activity,” says JamesShaffer, chief executive officer of the national auto-quoteprovider, in a statement.

Marijuana users may get into fewer accidents than other drivers,says the study, which looked at data on accidents, trafficviolations and insurance prices. The only significant effect ofsmoking marijuana may be slower driving.

“Marijuana users often say that when they are high, they feellike they are driving 80 mph but actually are only going 30 mph,”says Shaffer. The opposite is true for drunk drivers, he adds.There are less traffic fatalities and fewer accidents in stateswhere medical marijuana use is legal, Shaffer's companyconcludes.

“This is what makes alcohol dangerous behind the wheel andmarijuana safe,” Shaffer says.

Shaffer says marijuana users could see lower insurance rates ifsmoking the drug and driving was accepted. In the meantime, hesays, “the key to safer driving is to use marijuana, but do itunder wraps.”

The study by 4AutoInsuranceQuotes.org references other studies,including one done in 1983 by the National Highway TransportationSafety Administration that found marijuana smokers to be slowerdrivers, the online quote service says.

Another study by the NHTSA in the Netherlands found marijuanausers drove straight. A study in Australia concluded the drug userswere more likely to maintain a consistent speed and less likely topass other vehicles.

While there is plenty of research from multiple countries foundvia the Internet to support Shaffer's claims, many other studieshave found smoking pot and driving to be a bad idea.

A study released in the British Medical Journal earlier thisyear says those who smoke marijuana and drive within a few hoursare nearly twice as likely to get into an accident as a soberdriver.

The conclusion was made by researchers at Dalhousie Universityin Nova Scotia, Canada after looking at nine studies of more than49,000 drivers who had been treated for serious injuries after acrash.

Evidence from real and simulated driving studies say a driver'sattentiveness, perception of time and speed, and ability to draw oninformation obtained from past experiences can be negativelyaffected by marijuana use, according to the National Institute onDrug Abuse.

Marijuana use is surpassing alcohol use among teen drivers,according to a recent study of 2,294 high school juniors andseniors conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance and Students AgainstDestructive Decisions.

Nearly 20 percent of teen drivers reported having driven underthe influence of marijuana in the recent survey. About 36 percentof these teens said the drug presented no distraction to theirdriving.