Drug Driving Increases !

In the distant past alcohol was the main target in the road safety message. Incremental changes in the law covering detection finally led us to the " booze bus " era where the entire traffic stream can be pulled over and tested and we are now seeing a positive result.  Australian drivers are finally getting the message that what they saw as a social crime can cause them to be separated from the use of their car.

Put bluntly, random breath testing increased the risk of being caught to such an extent that fewer drivers now take that risk, but unfortunately the alcohol nemesis has been replaced by drugs. Research listed in the journal " Traffic Injury Prevention " records  that fifteen percent of those admitted to hospital after road crashes in South Australia tested positive for illicit drugs.

In contrast, just eleven percent of such drivers and five percent of motorcyclists recorded a blood/alcohol concentration above the limit of 0.05.   It seems that the same trend in evident in New South Wales where comparison of the figures for the nine years preceding 2018 showed that twenty-one percent of the drivers or riders who died in road crashes had illicit drugs in their systems.

It seems unlikely that roadside testing for drugs will ever achieve the outcome evident in reducing alcohol use before driving. The alcohol testing is quick and accurate.  In contrast, a drug test involves requiring a driver to wipe a testing probe across their tongue.  If positive, they are required to give a saliva sample which is sent to a laboratory for testing.  The final outcome is not known for several days after the roadside test.

This drug testing campaign lacks the " random " factor of alcohol testing.  Because it is both time consuming and expensive, it is concentrated at high risk locations such as concerts or raves.  The average drug user has good reason to think they will not be tested and what is tested to reveal is the presence of cannabis, methamphetamines, ecstacy and cocaine.  There are many drugs which do not fall into any of these categories.

To make matters worse, all forms of roadside testing have been suspended because of this Coronavirus Pandemic.  Both alcohol and drug users know police road testing has been cancelled and now testing will only be carried out on those killed in road crashes.   That is not an encouraging outcome for the average motorists sharing the road with drug affected drivers.