New weapon in testing drugs in drivers’ system show increase in drug-driving across NSW

DRUG-driving has become a major issue on the state’s roads after a police operation in which 15 per cent of drivers were detected with illicit substances in their system.

Superintendant John Hartley at the accident scene on Picton Rd involving a tanker truck and a family of 5 in a camry sedan. Sunday December 6th 2009.

DRUG-driving has become a major issue on the state’s roads after a police operation in which 15 per cent of drivers were detected with illicit substances in their system.

Of 311 motorists randomly tested in Newcastle during Operation Safe Arrival over the Christmas/New Year break, 46 returned positive ­results to marijuana, methamphetamines and other drugs.

It followed a similar operation last August in the Hunter region in which a staggering 40 per cent of drivers tested over the first two days of a three-day operation had drugs in their system.

Across NSW, both the number and ratio of drivers caught with traces of drugs in their system roughly doubled last year, compared with 2013.

Almost 1600 drivers tested positive to drugs, with another 582 tests awaiting laboratory analysis to ascertain whether drugs were present.

NSW Police Traffic and Highway Patrol commander Deputy Superintendent John Hartley said a new roadside drug-testing machine known as the Drager Drug Test 5000 had more sensitive detection technology which reduced the number of drug-drivers returning a negative result.

“In the four-year period ­between 2010 and 2013, 11 per cent of fatalities involved a person controlling a vehicle who had illicit drugs in their system,” he said

“These crash statistics along with our detection rate shows that drug-driving has emerged as a road safety issue.”

The roadside drug tests do not necessarily imply drivers are directly under the influence of drugs at the time they are pulled over, due to the fact traces of some drugs stay in the human body for more than a week after consumption.

Northern Region Highway Patrol supervisor Sergeant Steven Rudd said yesterday each positive result had to be analysed in a laboratory to determine whether the amount of drugs still in the bloodstream would affect a driver’s capabilities on the road. All motorists who return a positive result are immediately banned from driving for 24 hours.

“Then we await the results of the laboratory tests in Sydney,” he said.

“It’s still a new system for us here so we are determining if there is a major problem. But having said that, when you look at the figures there seems to be a reasonably high proportion of drivers who are testing positive for an illicit drug.”

Sgt Rudd said police had not decided to specifically target motorists deemed most likely to be carrying or consuming drugs.

“We stop everybody, hence the name random,” he said.

Further operations targeting so-called drug-driving are planned for throughout NSW this year.

“Just as we do with drink-driving and speeding offences, we are building a better profile of times and places where these offences occur,” Mr Hartley said.