Calls for Government to tackle drug driving

Road safety charity Brake and Direct Line Car Insurance are calling for the government to push through proposals on tackling drug driving, as a survey reveals one in nine young drivers (11%) has driven on illegal drugs in the past year.

The survey found that 3% of young drivers (age 17-24) said they get behind the wheel after taking drugs once a month or more. Slightly more young drivers are admitting drug driving than four years ago, when one in eleven young drivers (9%) owned up to this potentially deadly behaviour.

Brake is urging the government to follow through on its promise to tackle drug driving urgently. They are calling for long-needed reform, including:

• A new law making it an offence to drive while on illegal drugs, to rectify the current loophole. Currently it is only an offence to drive while impaired by drugs, meaning police must prove impairment to prosecute.
• Approval and roll-out of roadside drug screening devices, so police can test for drugs at the roadside and immediately following a crash.
• Make roads policing a national policing priority, enabling greater resources to be invested in roads policing, and increase police powers to enable random testing, so more tests are carried out and there is a greater deterrent against drink and drug driving.