Drug drive laws ‘failing victims, families and communities’

The Government is being urged to update legislation to allow police officers to take evidential saliva confirmation samples at the roadside – a ‘crucial reform’ that would close loopholes that allow drug drivers to evade justice. The call has been made by D.tec International and The AA on the 10th anniversary of legislation that made it illegal to drive with specified controlled drugs in the body above set limits.

While this was a landmark step forward, the system that follows a positive roadside drug drive result is failing victims, families, and communities, they say. Under current law, if a driver tests positive at the roadside, police must obtain an evidential blood sample, which is not always possible. Even when it is, there is a ‘shocking delay’ of up to six months before results return from the laboratory – during which time the offender remains free to drive.

As a result, an unknown number of drug drivers evade justice entirely when labs fail to return results within those six months, the legal deadline for police to authorise charges for road traffic offences such as drink and drug driving. With the Crime and Policing Bill introduced in Parliament recently, D.tec and The AA say the Government has a key opportunity to address the growing epidemic of drug driving.