The lethal epidemic of drug drivers: More than HALF of suspects stopped test positive for cocaine, cannabis and other banned highs
Some 60% of suspects caught on cocaine, cannabis or other banned drugs
Senior police and MPs stunned at the scale of UK’s drug-driving epidemic
Warnings it raises ‘massive concern’ about how many people drug-driving
‘Drugalyser’ devices introduced in March 2015 detect up to 17 illegal drugs
Source: Daily Mail
By Tom Payne and Chris Greenwood
18 March 2016
More than half of drivers stopped on suspicion of drug-driving are failing roadside tests for illicit substances, the Daily Mail can reveal today.
According to a survey of police forces, about 60 per cent of suspects were using cocaine, cannabis or other banned highs.
In total, officers have caught more than 3,700 people for drug-driving since the introduction of ‘drugalyser’ testing kits a year ago.
The rate of positive results is far greater than that for drink-driving, with just ten per cent of motorists who take roadside alcohol breath tests found to be over the limit in 2013. Last night, senior police, MPs and road safety campaigners expressed astonishment at figures that reveal the scale of Britain’s hidden drug-driving epidemic.
Politicians warned that they raised ‘massive concern’ about just how many people were now drug-driving – which is responsible for 200 deaths on the roads every year.
Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, who is responsible for roads policing nationwide, added: ‘This is our first encounter with the potential scale.
‘If that is representative of what is going on day to day it is worrying for us and for the public.
‘If we have got that level of drug-driving out there then we have got some real challenges.’
The roadside ‘drugalyser’ devices, described as being ‘as simple as a pregnancy kit’, use a saliva swab to allow police to identify substances within minutes. The kits can detect up to 17 illegal drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy as well as prescription drugs typically used for insomnia or anxiety that have been taken above prescribed doses.
They were introduced in March last year in the wake of tough new legislation to tackle the menace of drug-driving, which until now had not been punishable under a specific offence.
Under the old system, motorists had their eyes examined for signs of dilation and were ordered to walk in a straight line and balance on one leg with their eyes closed. Officers then had to summon a doctor to conduct blood tests at a police station, by which time the drugs could have left the driver’s system.
Forces were given powers to use the new roadside testing kits last year in line with laws setting permissible drug limits at very low levels. Cocaine and cannabis – the most commonly abused drugs – can now be detected within ten minutes.
Motorists convicted of drug-driving face a minimum of a year’s ban, an unlimited fine and up to six months’ in prison, although the majority are handed a short ban and a fine.
The Daily Mail received responses from 36 of the 43 forces in England and Wales, of which 26 provided figures covering March last year to the end of February this year.
They revealed that police had carried out 5,857 roadside drug tests, with 3,718 testing positive. The rate was 63 per cent on average, but in one force – Sussex – it was 82 per cent.
In Northamptonshire the figure was 62 per cent, and 58 per cent in South Yorkshire. Cheshire Police said 57 per cent of the 863 drivers it stopped were drug-drivers, while for Scotland Yard 344 out of 699 tests were positive – about 50 per cent.
Had all the forces supplied figures, it is likely the number of people caught for drug-driving would be significantly higher. Although the rate of drug-driving is high, the total number is dwarfed by those caught for drink-driving.
In England and Wales in 2013, the last year for which full figures are available, police carried out 684,000 breathalyser tests – of which 72,000, around ten per cent, either refused or tested positive.
Labour MP Rob Flello said: ‘Law-abiding drivers should be very wary as these numbers show the chances of coming across a drugged-up driver are dangerously high.’
It is especially concerning as research shows drug-drivers are likely to have committed other crimes. A quarter of drug-drivers are serial offenders and up to three-quarters have previous convictions.
Last night MPs, road safety charities and families of drug-driving victims reacted to the figures. Alice Bailey, of Brake, called the findings ‘shocking’, adding: ‘Driving on drugs is reckless, selfish and dangerous.’
Brian Thompson, 78, who was injured along his wife Valerie, 75, in 2013 when a driver high on a cocktail of drink, cannabis and cocaine collided with them head-on, said: ‘There are just too many of them on the road.’ Amy Aeron-Thomas, of Road Peace, added: ‘The huge increase in prosecutions … shows just how overlooked this threat had been previously.’
Tory MP Karl McCartney, who sits on the Commons transport committee, said: ‘The huge increase in those being caught shows the new law is working… It is unbelievable that the previous Labour Government did nothing when this problem had been well known for decades.’