Gardaí gear up for major crackdown on drug driving

GARDAÍ ARE to receive new powers and training in the detection of drug driving as part of a major crackdown to get under way early next year.

The crackdown comes as research shows drug driving in Ireland could be as serious a problem as drink driving.

Speaking at a conference on road safety in Dublin Castle yesterday, Prof Denis Cusack, head of the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, said direction in “field impairment training” for Garda officers would begin as early as January next year.

Additional powers to ask drivers to perform a series of simple roadside tests, such as demonstrating body co-ordination, are contained in the Road Traffic Act 2010, and are due to be signed into law in coming weeks.

However, the conference was told there was unlikely to be a simple mechanical device, such as a breath tester, to assist in roadside assessments, due to the range of drugs both legal and illegal that some drivers are using.

Prof Cusack also told the conference there was “work to do” in further legislation, as many of the State’s existing impaired driving laws were implemented in the 1990s, when the focus was more on alcohol and not the range of drugs that is now prevalent.

He also said the medical bureau had provided more than 1,400 “certifications” that drivers were impaired due to drug use in 2009, but for some reason this had resulted in fewer than 900 convictions in the courts.

A further difficulty was that in one-third of cases, medical bureau staff were required to be present in court but were actually called in fewer than 5 per cent of cases. There needed to be “some tightening up” of the process, he said, and revealed the bureau, gardaí and road safety authorities were working on these issues.

Assistant Garda Commissioner John Twomey said when someone was suspected of driving while under an intoxicant, they could be brought to a Garda station where, in addition to the usual tests for alcohol, they could be subjected to a medical assessment.

He said the difference in testing for drugs and alcohol was that tests for the latter were based on “specific limits”. Tests for drug use, however, were based on observation of behaviour and ability to control a vehicle. Gardaí would get more training in analysing behaviour for roadside driver tests.

Mr Twomey said a significant drop in the number of convictions for drink driving had been accompanied by an increase in the number of breath tests. He said in 2009, one breath test in every 200 for alcohol proved positive. So far in 2010 the comparable figure was one positive in every 400 tests.

Road Safety Authority chief executive, Noel Brett, said research had shown drug driving may be just as serious as drink driving. Research commissioned by the authority showed 22 per cent of 17- to 34-year-olds admitted being a passenger in a car driven by someone under the influence of drugs.

The online survey was conducted among 1,000 young people into the use of recreational drugs while driving. It revealed 6 per cent of drivers had driven under the influence of drugs in the past.

According to Mr Brett, the research was “extremely worrying, particularly when we see the numbers of people who willingly travelled in a car being driven by someone under the influence of drugs”.

DRUG DRIVING BY THE NUMBERS:

45%The percentage of 17- to 34- year-olds who admitted to using recreational drugs

13%The percentage who have used recreational drugs in the past two months

79%The percentage who viewed drug driving as "very unacceptable"

85%The percentage who viewed drink driving as "very unacceptable"

50%The percentage of those who have driven under influence of recreational drugs who have been previously fined for other traffic offences

When asked to indicate the level of risk associated with using specific drugs and driving, the following were rated as “extremely dangerous”:

Ecstasy – 79%; Alcohol – 76%; Cocaine – 73%; Cannabis/ Marijuana – 46%

Source: RSA “Ask Chilli” online survey of 1,000 drivers between the ages of 17 and 34.