DENVER – As auto fatalities involving marijuana increase in Colorado, state transportation officials are conducting a survey this year to better understand public attitudes toward driving under the influence of pot.

The campaign is led by the Colorado Department of Transportation, law enforcement and the marijuana industry. It held its first open house in the Denver area Wednesday and more meetings are planned in Fort Collins, Pueblo and Denver in the coming weeks.

The number of marijuana-related automobile fatalities in Colorado, as measured by the drug’s chief psychoactive ingredient, has seen a sharp increase in recent years.

CDOT spokesman Sam Cole tells The Denver Post that the agency wants to better understand why some marijuana users don’t take the dangers of driving more seriously and what could make them change their minds.