Call for roadside drug testing

The RAC Ireland has called for roadside testing for drug use, claiming that details released by Durham police in Britain found that 25 per cent of fatal road incidents involved drivers who had taken illicit drugs, compared to 15 per cent involving alcohol.

While Irish statistics on overall drug use by motorists are not available, of the 2,000 samples from motorists sent by gardaí to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety for testing last year, 23 per cent confirmed the presence of drugs.

Of the 2,000 samples tested, 1,000 were found to be over the limit for alcohol, of which 141 or 14 per cent also showed the presence of drugs. Of the 1,000 samples under the limit for alcohol, 326 showed a presence of drugs, and of these 140 only showed drugs but no alcohol.

A survey by the RAC in Britain last year found that, of 2,000 motorists surveyed, 3 per cent admitted to have been driven in the previous year by someone who had taken cannabis or marijuana, while one per cent admitted to driving after taking the same drugs.

Drugs can have a range of effects on the motorist. Cannabis can reduce reaction times and impair co-ordination, while cocaine and ecstasy can result in increased risk-taking and over-confidence behind the wheel.

Several countries are researching the possibilities of roadside drug testing and the RAC says roadside testing for drug use is due to be introduced in Britain next year.

However, according to Prof Denis Cusack of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, a fully reliable roadside test is not yet available. "At a recent conference in Strasbourg, we were told by Prof Alain Verstraete, who has studied the various systems on offer, that roadside testing is not yet at a stage where it is a reliable, accurate method of testing which can cover the wide variety of drugs in use."

Verstraete, of Ghent University in Belgium, is co-ordinator of the ROSITA project, aimed at identifying requirements for roadside testing equipment, and to make a comparative assessment of existing equipment and prototypes.

Testing for drugs is done using various body fluids such as sweat or saliva, but at present different fluids are best at revealing the presence of different drugs and therefore there is no single test to test for all the major drugs.

When gardaí suspect a driver is under the influence of an intoxicant, after the initial breath test for alcohol, they must call upon a doctor to take a blood test to establish whether a driver is under the influence of drugs. The tests must also be carried out within three hours to be effective. Samples are then sent to the Medical Bureau of Road Safety for analysis.

According to Cusack, while there are no statistics for illicit drug use among the general motoring population, European studies suggest it to be in the region of one to five per cent. Similar statistics for the use of legally-used drugs suggest a usage figure in the region of five to 15 per cent.