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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Screening after fatal accidents reveals shocking figures
Darlington & Stockton Times
Friday 02 Aug 2002 POLICE say drugs have become the new killers on the region's roads. Laboratory tests revealed more than half the people who died on the roads in the Durham police area this year had taken drugs. Samples taken from road accident fatalities are routinely screened for drink and drugs by hospital pathology departments. But in January specialist accident investigators with Durham Constabulary ordered blood and urine taken from every fatally injured driver should undergo a second, more detailed examination at forensic laboratories. The results of this second screening can be produced as evidence to a coroner or a court. Durham's head of traffic, Supt Barry Peart, said: "We asked the laboratories to routinely start screening for drugs because we suspected they were becoming one of the common denominators in incidents. "The findings are quite alarming - far worse than we thought." Since the start of the year, accidents have claimed 23 lives on the region's roads. Samples taken from 50pc of people revealed traces of cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and prescription drugs, as well as alcohol. However, Supt Peart said while it was possible for experts to establish how a driver's ability was affected by alcohol at the point of impact, it was difficult to estimate precisely the part drugs might have played. "Smoking a cannabis joint and getting behind the wheel of a car has the same sort of effect as drinking four or five pints of beer," he added. "But the big difference is that traces of drugs remain within the blood for up to six weeks after they have been taken. In these circumstances, we have no way of knowing how drivers were affected at the time of a crash." Prescription drugs were an additional hazard. "People taking medication for hay fever or a migraine do not heed the warnings about drowsiness or the dangers of mixing it with drink," said Supt Peart. "Traces of other drugs, such as temazepam or diazepam, taken for sleeping problems or depression, are also turning up in laboratory tests." The figures were revealed as Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria police teamed up to launch their latest summer anti drink-drive campaign. Last August, the three forces carried out a total of 7,293 breath tests, of which 487 were positive. Sgt Nick Walker of Cleveland police said: "Drinking and driving in summer months is a seasonal problem not helped by the temptations posed by barbecues, trips to country pubs and a range of other functions or events. "The evidence shows more people are at risk of injury during the summer than during the more recognised periods of celebration at Christmas and New Year.
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