Drug drivers could face tougher penalties after the government announced plans to change the current drug driving law, which road safety groups say is weak.
Road safety minister Mike Penning has announced plans to crack down on drug drivers by appointing a panel of experts to consider changing the current law.
The Department for Transport will investigate the possibility of introducing a new offence of “driving with an illegal drug in your body”.
The panel, which will include academic and scientific experts in the field of alcohol and drug misuse, as well as experts from the Home Office and Department of Health, is expected to start work in the spring.
They will look at how the law will be defined and investigate whether it’s possible to set levels for specific drugs, looking at cocaine, MDMA, cannabis, and opiates.
Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said: “Britain has some of the safest roads in the world but we know how important it is to tackle the menace of drug driving.”
“That is why we are putting together a panel of experts to give us advice on the technical aspects of introducing a new offence of driving with an illegal drug in your body.”
The current drug driving law
Statistics show that around 18 per cent of people killed in road crashes have traces of illegal drugs in their blood, with cannabis being the most common.
A poll carried out last year by Confused.com found that more than 70 per cent of people wanted the government to take a tougher stance on drug-driving.
Despite this it is not a specific offence to drive with illegal drugs in your system. Instead the law refers to “driving while impaired by drugs”.
This means, if police suspect a driver to be under the influence of an illegal substance, they must prove it and subsequently prove how it impaired the driver’s judgment behind the wheel.
Road safety charity Brake has long argued that the existing system is flawed and has been pressuring the government for tougher penalties and the introduction of roadside testing with a “drugalyser”.
A spokesman said: “Our drink-drive laws mean drivers can be prosecuted for having a certain level of alcohol in their blood, regardless of whether it can be shown their driving was impaired, but this is currently not the case for illegal drugs.
“Introducing a similar offence for drug-driving would make it much easier to prosecute.”
Field Impairment Test
Unlike drink driving, which can be detected on the roadside using a breathalyser, drug driving tests are still very subjective.
Known as the Field Impairment Test, officers ask a suspect to take various tasks such as walking in a straight line, or touching their nose, to gauge impairment.
Ellen Booth, Brake senior campaigns officer, said: “For too long the law on drug driving has been totally inadequate. We need a ban on driving with illegal drugs in your system, and we need roadside drugalysers. The longer this takes, the more lives will be violently and tragically lost.”
Brake is urging the government to:
- Introduce a law making an offence to drive on illegal drugs.
- Introduce roadside drugalysers.
- 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.
Lillian’s Law
Supporting Brake’s campaign is the family of Lillian Groves, who was 14 when she was killed by a drug driver in 2010.
Driver John Page, 36, was speeding, uninsured and had been smoking cannabis. He ploughed into Lillian at more than 40mph.
A blood test was not carried out on Page until nine hours later: he tested positive for cannabis, but the levels were not deemed high enough for him to face the more serious charge of causing death by driving under the influence of drugs, which carries a maximum 14-year sentence.
Page received a four-month sentence for causing death by careless driving and causing death whilst driving uninsured, and a two-year driving ban. He was released after eight weeks.
Lillian's aunt Michaela Groves said: “Lillian's death has devastated our family. I'm pleading with drivers young and old to commit to never take drugs and drive. It's an atrocious risk that could easily end in death or serious injury.”
