Drug-driving campaign is launched

[decim]

Anyone caught drug-driving faces up to six months in prison and a £5,000 fine.

The Department for Transport (DfT) estimates that one in five drivers or riders killed in road accidents may have an impairing drug - legal or illegal - in their system.

If officers see signs of drug abuse they can take a suspect to a police station to perform a blood test to confirm it.

"There are already some devices out there that can identify some of the most common drugs people take and there's really no reason for the government to wait for some perfect device to detect all of them."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8201407.stm

[dancing_with_durga]

Ahem.

UK: Cannabis May Make You A Safer Driver

by Jonathon Carr-Brown, (13 Aug 2000)

Times United Kingdom

TAKING the high road may not be so dangerous after all. Ministers are set to be embarrassed by government-funded research which shows that driving under the influence of drugs makes motorists more cautious and has a limited impact on their risk of crashing.

In the study, conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory, grade A cannabis specially imported from America was given to 15 regular users. The doped-up drivers were then put through four weeks of tests on driving simulators to gauge reaction times and awareness.

Regular smokers were used because previous tests in America using first-timers resulted in the volunteers falling over and feeling ill. The laboratory found its guinea pigs through what it described as a "snowballing technique" - one known user was asked to find another after being promised anonymity and exemption from prosecution agreed with the Home Office.

Instead of proving that drug-taking while driving increased the risk of accidents, researchers found that the mellowing effects of cannabis made drivers more cautious and so less likely to drive dangerously.

Although the cannabis affected reaction time in regular users, its effects appear to be substantially less dangerous than fatigue or drinking. Research by the Australian Drugs Foundation found that cannabis was the only drug tested that decreased the relative risk of having an accident.

The findings will embarrass ministers at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions ( DETR ) who commissioned the study after pressure from motoring organisations and anti-drug campaigners. Lord Whitty, the transport minister, will receive the report later this month.

Last week police revealed details of new drug-driving tests to be administered by the roadside, which were received with some amusement. They require suspected drug-drivers to stand on one leg, lean back and touch their nose with their eyes closed, and to count to 30 silently with their eyes shut. This is apparently difficult for those on a drug trip.

The advertising company McCann-Erickson has already prepared a television campaign using Pulp's song Sorted for Es and Whizz, the slogan "Never drive on drugs" and the pay-off line "then you come down".

However, if the findings are less than frightening on the effects of marijuana, they may convince ministers to put more money into raising driver awareness of fatigue. Tiredness is now blamed for causing 10% of all fatal accidents, compared with 6% for alcohol and 3% for drugs.

A low-key radio campaign will be launched tomorrow warning drivers to take breaks.

The report's surprising conclusions will not sway organisations such as the RAC, which believes there is incontrovertible evidence that drug-driving is a growing menace. DETR statistics published in January showed a six-fold increase in the number of people found to be driving with drugs in their system after fatal road accidents. The figure jumped from 3% in 1989 to 18%.

Dr Rob Tunbridge, the report's author, refused to reveal his findings before they were published but said: "If you were to ask me to rank them in order of priority, fatigue is the worst killer, followed by alcohol, and drugs follow way behind in third."

Tunbridge admitted that the effect of drugs differed with the individual, the amount taken, the environment they were taken in and the point at which you tested reactions.

Cocaine users are known to be alert drivers when they first take the drug, but then they have a tendency to fall asleep at the wheel. The particular problem with cannabis is that it stays in a person's system for up to 30 hours but its effects wear off within a few hours.

Quickly moving on whistling furiously...
.

[fekdemasons]

Why does George michael keep crashing his land rover then ?

[flickflack]

Anyone caught drug-driving faces up to six months in prison and a £5,000 fine.


These kind of people should at least be behind the bars for 1 year. It should make the streets safer while those dangerous crackpots are getting justice.

As for a fine on £5,000 , not bad, heh. Considering the fact that those guys usually don't contribute to the society with anything positive. They are a bunch of losers, and their life would really be worth more in jail than going out loose. Get them all locked up, it's for the better for all parts.

[ps3andhdtv]

I take it, that it's perfectly fine to drive whilst taking anti depressants and such drugs? Even though they could cause someone to have an accident as well?

[kitler]

[QUOTE=flickflack;1200373]These kind of people should at least be behind the bars for 1 year. It should make the streets safer while those dangerous crackpots are getting justice.

As for a fine on £5,000 , not bad, heh. Considering the fact that those guys usually don't contribute to the society with anything positive. They are a bunch of losers, and their life would really be worth more in jail than going out loose. Get them all locked up, it's for the better for all parts.[/QUOTE

I agree, but why stop there. Why not test everybody in the country for everything you don't like then make everything you dont like punishable with imprisonment regardless of whether it is a problem or not.

[kanz]

[QUOTE=flickflack;1200373]These kind of people should at least be behind the bars for 1 year. It should make the streets safer while those dangerous crackpots are getting justice.

As for a fine on £5,000 , not bad, heh. Considering the fact that those guys usually don't contribute to the society with anything positive. They are a bunch of losers, and their life would really be worth more in jail than going out loose. Get them all locked up, it's for the better for all parts.[/QUOTE

I agree, but why stop there. Why not test everybody in the country for everything you don't like then make everything you dont like punishable with imprisonment regardless of whether it is a problem or not.

Don't give them ideas!!!!!:mad:.

kidding :P.

On a seriouse note I agree , ofc as long as you arn't "oot yer nut" while you are actually driveing I don't see what the big deal is.
The way im looking at it is if i have a wee smoke say around 10am and i decide to drive at say 3 pm even tho im sober will i still fail the test's?