Drugs overtaking alcohol as bigger menace on Victorian roads
Victorian drivers on drugs are overtaking those caught over the legal alcohol limit. And police say drivers killed on our roads are now more likely to have amphetamines in their system than alcohol. SEE THE REGIONS MOST AFFECTED.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Drugs are on the verge of overtaking alcohol as the biggest menace on Victoria’s roads and there are plans to dramatically expand the number of drivers tested for illicit substances.
Almost half of drivers caught last year had a drug in their system.
Victoria Police analysis provided to the Sunday Herald Sun shows 4633 drug drivers were detected last year — compared with 5162 caught driving while over the legal alcohol limit.
The force is embarking on a major overhaul of how it detects drug drivers, to make tests faster and more effective.
Assistant Commissioner for Road Safety Stephen Leane said changing people’s attitudes to drug driving — especially those aged under 35 — would be a significant focus.
“Drug drivers are one of the biggest dangers on our roads,” Mr Leane said.
“We will leave no stone unturned in catching these people.
“Getting drug drivers off the road will be one of the greatest challenges over the next 10 years.”
It’s now more likely a driver killed will have amphetamines in their system than alcohol.
On average, police catch a drugged driver every 18 times they do a test compared with one in 400 for alcohol.
In 2018 about 120,000 drug tests and three million alcohol checks were conducted. Drug tests are costly and time consuming to administer, and are deployed in a more targeted way.
But Mr Leane said police were looking at how they might be able to expand the drug-driving testing regimen.
“My ambition is that somewhere in the future people will say ‘I see drug testing as often as I see alcohol testing’.
“Worldwide there is not the technology to be as broad, but that does not mean we are not looking for it,” he said.
SEE HOW MANY HAVE BEEN CAUGHT IN YOUR SUBURB
Documents show Victoria Police is reviewing its roadside drug-testing procedures to allow “a significant additional uplift” in the number of tests.
The review will look at ways to test and analyse samples quicker. The existing preliminary saliva sample takes about three minutes.
Mr Leane said drug driving was still culturally acceptable among some young people, whereas drink driving was not. “Alcohol and driving was the challenge in the ’70s and ’80s and we really have changed the attitude; it is just not socially acceptable and there is no sympathy for anyone that gets caught,” Mr Leane said.
MORE NEWS: SHOCKING TOLL OF VICTORIA’S FLU SEASON
HOW COPS THWARTED ‘LONE WOLF’ ATTACK AT RACES
The stats also show a high number of drug drivers were caught in rural communities — with Wodonga, Warrnambool, Bendigo, Traralgon, Wangaratta and Horsham all in the top 10 for drug driving offences.
Mr Leane said those numbers reflected the issues those communities were having with amphetamine abuse — particularly ice. “What you are seeing is that issues around drug use in rural areas are still evident,” he said.
“We are seeing it not just on the main freeways but we are seeing it in local communities and that is some of the numbers we are seeing.”
Police Minister Lisa Neville said the drug-testing review was part of a $26 million investment which would result in roadside tests increase from 100,000 to 150,000 a year.