Happy motoring

One in five motorists admit to drug driving
Wednesday June 7, 12:09 AM



LONDON (Reuters) - One in five UK motorists has driven after taking illegal drugs and four in ten think their driving is either unaffected or even improved after indulging, a survey showed on Wednesday.

'Brits are some of the worst drug driving offenders in Europe, and drug driving could become as serious a problem in the UK as drink driving,' said Dr Rob Tunbridge, a drug impairment expert and consultant to insurer MORE THAN which carried out the study. '18 percent of drivers killed in road accidents in this country have traces of illicit drugs in their bodies,' he said in a statement.

The poll conducted via myvillage.co.uk of 1,072 people found 10 percent of drug drivers admitted they offended because they thought they could get away with it. One third (32 percent) said they would be deterred if the police did more checks.The insurance group called for the rapid introduction of roadside drugs screening devices similar to those being used in countries like Germany, Switzerland and Australia.

Kevin Delaney at the RAC Foundation said he was not surprised at the finding. 'There is an even greater problem lurking largely undetected of people driving under the influence of legally-acquired drugs and unaware how they can impact their skills,' the traffic and road safety manager at the motoring organisation said. While some prescription drugs like barbiturates or hay fever anti-histamines tend to depress the central nervous system reducing reaction times, drugs like amphetamines will speed up reactions but may cause people to drive too fast and take risks.

He said that most police have already adopted roadside impairment testing -- such as standing on tip-toe with eyes closed and counting to 30 -- but there would be problems with introducing testing devices like the breathalyser. 'The difficulty is in detecting all the different drugs, as opposed to the normal breathalyser which only has to detect alcohol be it beer, spirits or wine,' he said. He added that while there is a drink driving limit there is no equivalent level for driving with drugs. He said the government needed to carry out research to determine at what level drug use impairs driving skills.

And in NZ.......

Police catch 43 people in North Shore drink-driving blitz
11.00am Sunday September 17, 2006

Police caught 43 people driving with excess breath alcohol during a drink-driving blitz on Auckland's North Shore during the weekend.

Police stopped 5422 vehicles during Operation Jar, which ran from 8pm on Friday to 4am on Sunday.

Forty-three were caught driving with excess breath alcohol, and another 10 elected to take blood tests to see if they would also face charges.

Several drivers returned breath tests double the legal breath alcohol limit. At least five of the drink-drivers had young children as passengers.

Police caught seven teenagers drink-driving, as well as arresting 10 people for a range of other charges including drugs, immigration warrants, dangerous driving, and disqualified driving.

Police were disappointed with the number of people they caught, Acting Inspector Gary Hill said.

However, the number of nabbed drink-drivers was down on previous years, which could mean the message was getting through, he added.

- NZPA