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UK: Drug users who drive face police crackdown

Sophie Goodchild and Mahtab Haider

The Independent on Sunday

Sunday 08 May 2005

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Festival-goers who take illegal drugs then drive home afterwards will be
targeted in a major government campaign this summer.

The "zero-tolerance" campaign follows a six-fold increase in the number of
road accidents caused by motorists who use cocaine, cannabis or ecstasy
then get behind the wheel of their vehicle, often with fatal consequences.

A new anti-drug-driving crackdown will be launched this June at
Glastonbury, Europe's largest music festival. Ticket-holders will be issued
with special credit-card-size expandable flyers which warn them of the
dangers of driving while on drugs.

Department of Transport officials confirmed they are also in the process of
drawing up plans to target other events, including the V music festivals in
Chelmsford and Staffordshire.

Official figures show that around 18 per cent of people fatally injured in
road crashes are found to have traces of illicit drugs in their bodies.
This compares with a figure of 3 per cent 15 years ago.

A major EU study, based on hospital samples from road victims and the
results of roadside tests, is also expected to show that drug-driving is
widespread in Britain.

The maximum penalty for drug-driving is six years in prison. Since last
December police forces have been able to force motorists to undergo
roadside tests to see if their responses have been impaired by drug-taking.

Officers from 39 forces have been trained to carry out these tests, which
include checking to see if a driver can stand with one foot off the ground
without swaying. A positive drugs test is not sufficient proof that a
motorist is incapable of driving.

Road safety experts and scientists are currently in the process of
developing a more sophisticated process of gauging the impact of different
types of drugs on driving ability. There are devices on the market which
test for the presence of drugs in the blood or in urine. But these cannot
determine how different drugs impair driving.

Brake, the road safety charity, warns that nearly a million drivers on the
roads could have taken illegal drugs in the past year based on research it
has carried out. It will call on the Government to step up levels of
enforcement on drink and drug-driving at a conference this Thursday in
London. The charity says that driving while under the influence of drugs as
well as drink is a "growing menace on our roads".

"Every week people lose their lives because of drivers who choose to get
behind the wheel while impaired, and it is often young people whose lives
are needlessly cut short," said a spokeswoman.

Dr Rob Tunbridge, an expert on road safety and drug- driving, said the
impact of drugs on motorists was harder than alcohol to determine because
different types of drugs vary widely in their impact on the human body.

"Drugs can either make people overconfident about their ability to drive or
induce drowsiness," he said.

 

 

 

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