Accurate and reliable information on drug use by road users is essential to inform safety policy development but the reliability of national data has been questioned. There are two primary repositories of drug test information from fatal motor vehicle crashes in Maryland: (1) the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), which is a national crash database managed by the US Department of Transportation, and (2) the Maryland Medical Examiner (ME). In this study, we compared drug test information for people killed in crashes in Maryland between the FARS system and ME from 2006 – 2018. As ME records are the primary source for the FARS data from Maryland, these two data sets should be closely correlated. We used probabilistic linkage to match FARS and ME cases and compared matched cases by individual drug group. Matching was achieved on 83 % of cases (N = 4803 matched pairs). ME data consistently indicated higher overall incidence and trends in the presence of depressants, narcotics, and stimulants in crash deaths. Sensitivity analysis using both strict and relaxed matching criteria did not change this result. Road safety policy and prevention efforts for crashes involving drugs and alcohol require an accurate understanding of both long-term trends and year-to-year changes in drug prevalence. These findings demonstrate the potential value of using ME data as source of drug test information for crash deaths in the United States.

准确可靠的道路使用者吸毒信息对于制定安全政策至关重要，但国家数据的可靠性受到质疑。马里兰州有两个主要的致命机动车碰撞药物测试信息库：(1) 死亡分析报告系统 (FARS)，这是一个由美国交通部管理的国家碰撞数据库，以及 (2) 马里兰医疗考官（ME）。在这项研究中，我们比较了 2006 年至 2018 年 FARS 系统和 ME 之间在马里兰州车祸中丧生的人员的药物测试信息。由于 ME 记录是马里兰州 FARS 数据的主要来源，因此这两个数据集应该密切相关。我们使用概率关联来匹配 FARS 和 ME 病例，并按单个药物组比较匹配病例。83% 的病例（N = 4803 匹配对）实现了匹配。ME 数据一致表明，在车祸死亡中，镇静剂、麻醉剂和兴奋剂的总体发病率和趋势较高。使用严格和宽松匹配标准的敏感性分析并没有改变这一结果。涉及毒品和酒精的车祸的道路安全政策和预防工作需要准确了解毒品流行的长期趋势和逐年变化。这些发现证明了使用 ME 数据作为美国车祸死亡药物测试信息来源的潜在价值。使用严格和宽松匹配标准的敏感性分析并没有改变这一结果。涉及毒品和酒精的车祸的道路安全政策和预防工作需要准确了解毒品流行的长期趋势和逐年变化。这些发现证明了使用 ME 数据作为美国车祸死亡药物测试信息来源的潜在价值。使用严格和宽松匹配标准的敏感性分析并没有改变这一结果。涉及毒品和酒精的车祸的道路安全政策和预防工作需要准确了解毒品流行的长期趋势和逐年变化。这些发现证明了使用 ME 数据作为美国车祸死亡药物测试信息来源的潜在价值。