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Roadside Drug Testing....

^I reckon it seems like they wanted to bring it in for mardi gras weekend hopefully in the lead up to it the news will carry reminders testing is coming in along with the stories about all the parties that'll be going. If it wasn't for bluelight i probably would have forgotten, been months since they talked bout it and if people don't know about it its not gunna stop them driving under the influence.
 
Has anyone heard of these tests being introduced into QLD, more specifically The Valley, Brisbane? I have heard people claiming that they have started, but cannot confirm if this is accurate info?
 
OK spacemonkey69 here's the news. A friend followed this up for me this morning with Qld Police.

At present there are NO police operations using drug wipe or other roadside drug detection systems. My friend also said there were no immediate plans to do so. As other states are doing, Qld Police are watching Victoria very closely, but that's (atm anyways) as far as it goes.

Now, what was also said, is that there may be a University project somewhere doing independent research on the subject. But I was assured any such project is NOT in collaboration with Qld police.

While talking with my colleague, we both concluded that unless Qld transport is somehow involved, this group (if it is operation) would not be able to stop traffic. Even if Qld transport were involved, it would be required that each participant was informed of the project's aims etc, and involvement would definitely not be compulsory.
 
spacemonkey check out the sunday mail feb 20. article in there about how they tested drivers in the valley/story bridge. the article said sumthing like 4 peoples blood taken for testing
 
Thanks for that info OURLILFAMILY. I'll be onto my apparantly reliable source

Roadside testing for drug use
DAVID MURRAY
20feb05

POLICE are using roadside blood and sobriety tests in the fight against drug-affected drivers.

The tests were used this month in

Operation Stopper, which saw police throw a net around the Brisbane City and Fortitude Valley areas, placing breathalysers at all major exits.

But instead of just looking for drink-drivers, officers at one site were assisted by a government doctor looking for signs of drug use.

Inspector John Murnane said driving under the influence of drugs could be a problem.

"It is a bit unknown how many people driving out there are affected by drugs – and this is one way of finding out," he said.

Four drivers had to submit to blood samples which are being tested for drugs including marijuana, ecstasy and speed.

In just two nights, 248 people were charged with drink-driving, including two women who were almost five times the legal limit.

The doctor worked with police at a testing site near the Story Bridge.

Drivers suspected of being under the influence of drugs were made to leave their vehicles and perform co-ordination tests, such as touching their nose.

If the sobriety tests provided further evidence of drug use, the drivers had to submit to blood tests.

Insp Murnane said three of the four drivers who gave blood samples were over the legal alcohol limit.

He said police had the right to perform a blood test if a person had been drink-driving. Otherwise they had to make a "driving under the influence" arrest before doing the test.

Operation Stopper is a joint effort between the metropolitan south and north police regions.

The large number of drink-drivers had stunned officers stationed at the breath-testing units.

"To get that number of drink-drivers in two nights definitely shows there is a need to keep that type of operation going, and we will," Insp Murnane said.

One of the women drink-drivers was already disqualified from driving.

But she had a male passenger in the car who was licensed and sober.

"He could have been driving all along. It just goes to show how alcohol clouds people's judgment," Insp Murnane said.
Click to expand...
 
no dramas i read the sunday mail and telegraph all day sundays without fail no matter how big of a night i had saturday. i must say it was a big surprise to be reading this.
 
So it would seem that so long as you are not drinking, and not off your chops you should be safe from such tests? Not that i condone driving whilst on drugs, but this would be pretty valuable information for friends etc.
 
NSW govt to double hit and run penalties
12:23 AEDT Fri Feb 25 2005

Hit-and-run drivers in NSW will face longer jail sentences under legislation planned by the government.

The proposal includes doubling the possible prison sentence to three years, and mandatory drug testing of all drivers involved in fatal traffic accidents, NSW Police Minister Carl Scully said.

Currently, blood tests are analysed only in cases of reasonable suspicion.

And a driver aged 15 or over could be charged under a new offence for the presence of drugs in their system.

Mr Scully also gave details of a separate plan, announced last November, for a 12 month trial of random roadside drug testing.

Thursday's announcement on the doubling of the maximum hit-and-run penalty follows the death of nine-year-old Brendan Saul in a motor vehicle accident in Dubbo on January 8 last year.

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"Brendan was riding his bike when he was struck by a car driven by somebody who was only 15 years of age," Mr Scully said.

"That person is awaiting sentencing on matters related to that accident."

Mr Scully said problems existed in prosecuting situations such as in Brendan Saul's case.

"If these laws were introduced at the time (before Brendan Saul's death) they would have been able to successfully deal with this particular character, who is still before the courts."

Mr Scully said he met Brendan's father Kevin last week and told him about the plan, which the minister said Mr Saul appreciated.

"I can now announce that the state government is looking to increase the penalty for the offence of failing to stop and give assistance where a person has been killed or injured in road accidents," he said.

"(The penalty for) this offence could be doubled to three years imprisonment."

Mr Scully expected the hit-and-run proposal to be introduced to parliament in the next few months, and the plan for a random drug testing plan to follow soon after.

The random roadside drug testing trial will target truck drivers and general motorists using speed and cannabis and ecstasy.

"There's anecdotal evidence that a large number of drivers who killed in road accidents have drugs present in their body," Mr Scully said.

"Truck drivers (are) taking speed as an upper, taking cannabis as a downer, people (are) taking ecstasy at rave parties and impairing their driving ability.

Mr Scully said the NSW trial would operate differently to one in Victoria.

"We are going to have a trial period. The legislation enable(s) police to have the powers to demand random roadside drug testing, which will involve a DNA swab," he said.

"If the driver is found to be positive they will not be able to drive for 24 hours but they won't be prosecuted.

"The important difference with Victoria is there will be no prosecution for at least 12 months until I report to parliament on the success of the trial."
Click to expand...

STILL doesnt say when the nsw trial begins ...... :/
 
spacemonkey69 said:
So it would seem that so long as you are not drinking, and not off your chops you should be safe from such tests? Not that i condone driving whilst on drugs, but this would be pretty valuable information for friends etc.
Click to expand...

Taking blood on the side of the road is just wrong on so many levels.
 
I found this very interesting......

Cannabis and Driving?
What do the experts say?




from HEMP SA article on driving and Cannabis
This page includes references to several good articles about Cannabis & driving as well as a message from one of Australia's leading scientists.


Marijuana safer than drink, says crash study, The Advertiser

If alcohol could be replaced by marijuana it would be a major road safety advance, one of Australia's leading road safety specialists claims...

Cannabis cleared in report on road toll, The Australian (undated)
Motorists who use Cannabis are no more likely to be involved in a fatal collision than drivers who are drug free, a study by the Victorian Institute of Forensic Pathology says...

Drink, not Cannabis causes road deaths LTE by Dr Alex Wodak, The Australian

Marijuana's Effects on Actual Driving Performance by HWJ Robbe, Institute for Human Psychopharmacology, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
(A paper presented at the 13th International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs & Traffic Safety, Adelaide SA. )



Cannabis & Driving by Dr Greg Chesher

[email protected]

Colleagues,

I want to mention the present understanding about Cannabis and driving. You may already be quite familiar with these studies, but in case you are not, the following might interest you. The law about alcohol which proscribes driving with BAC >0.05 g% blood alcohol has been determined by epidemiological studies employing the case-control method. At 0.05g% the driver is about twice as likely to be involved in a crash as a driver with zero BAC. As the BAC increases, so in a very steep fashion, does the probability of being involved in a crash. The role of alcohol in road crashes has been very clearly demonstrated. The drink-driving laws are based upon sound science!

As for other drugs, including Cannabis, the pharmacokintetics do not permit this technique. There is no correlation between the blood concentration of Cannabinoids and impairment as determined on laboratory tasks. Furthermore, the study would require the taking of blood from the crash involved drivers as well as that of the control drivers--not involved in a crash. There is no equivalent to the alcohol breathalyser. Cannabinoids are not excreted on the breath. (It is the collection of adequate data from a control group that really precludes the case-control method). So to overcome this, the technique of "culpability analysis" has been employed.

In this case, data for crashes are presented to an independent group of observers who are ignorant (blind) as to whether any of the drivers had any drug at all in their blood. By studying the information of the crash (events before and up to the crash) a score apportioning the degree of blame to each driver is given. From this "culpability" is determined.

So far there have been four studies using this technique, two in the USA and two in Australia.

As far as Cannabis is concerned, it is quite remarkable that in all cases the results were so similar as to be the same finding. The culpability ratio for the drivers bearing Cannabinoids in blood revealed that they were no more likely to be considered as a cause of the crash as those who had no drugs at all in their blood. Indeed in each of these four studies the Cannabinoid drivers were less (but not significantly so) likely to have been a cause than those with no drug at all. In all of these studies alcohol-bearing drivers were overwhelmingly culpable.

So at the moment, the present data suggest that cannabis is not involved as a causative factor in road crashes.

Two things must be considered. First, it is early days so far. The total number of cases in all of these studies totals about 9000 or a little less.

Second, the determination of the culpability score is dependent upon the integrity of the initial data describing the accident. In most cases this is from the attending police. This is not always reliable. However, as the numbers increase with more studies, we will have more confidence with the findings.

There is another Australian study currently being analysed and is due to be released shortly.....SOON is the advice I have from the author.

Cheers,

Greg Chesher
 
In tassie i dont know about n e where else but our local papers article basically said that it would test and show up for the past 24 hours of use, hence u cant drive within 24 hours of using drugs BUT the first 2 people in vic cought it showed up later with a blood test or test of sum other sort that one guy hadnt touched weed for like 2 months and the other guy who tested positve had nt used for at least a week, with these sort of stuff up results i cant see this staying for any longer than its trial period unless they very quickly develop a new test that is more accurate but that would take a few more years at least due to having to test on general public then it being trialed then becoming law n stuff... also down here it is a fine and loss of liscence for a minimum of 3 months, same as drink driving (that was the local papers speal on it hasnt actually come into play yet tho thankfully
 
The news reports over the weekend talking about drug testing coming in "later this year" and the article ohthreetwo posted indicate the implementation of testing has been delayed in NSW.
 
i wonder if a phone call to the police assistance line would yield any useful information on when they start? ......
 
Sorry to resurrect this thread but saw something very interesting in my local paper last week which is similarly related.

First drug driving charge in Rowville

Rowville police have charged a motorist with driving under the influence of a drug - the first such charge they laid.

Sgt Kevin Dwyer said police attended an accident in Dandelion Drive, Rowville, on March 28 and interviewed a 40-year-old woman for traffic offences.

Sgt Dwyer said the Rowville woman was then charged with driving under the influence of a drug (a prescription drug) because she was allegedly not in proper control of the vehicle.

She will appear in court at a later date.
Click to expand...

From the Knox Leader.
5th April 2005
Page 16.
 
I was thinking that too, but there's actually no mention of the drug bus or a saliva test in that article. Driving under the influence of a drug is still an offence if it causes impairment, and this can be tested for in the traditional way. It also mentions that they interviewed her, so maybe she fessed up about what she'd had. Or there's always the chance they found her prescription or the drugs themselves in the car, which led to them asking questions.
 
Sorry, forgot to mention, the article is not related to the drug bus. It is a case of being charged for driving under the influence but the charge does not stem from the result of a roadside saliva test.
 
Drivers face drug tests

LUKE ELIOT

WA motorists could be randomly tested for illicit drugs under legislation soon to be debated in State Parliament.

A spokesman for Police Minister Michelle Roberts confirmed yesterday that the final draft for drug-driver laws had been finalised.

The proposed laws would give police the power to test drivers randomly for evidence they were driving under the influence of drugs, including amphetamine and cannabis. They would also give police the power to use roadside saliva testing equipment, which could include the system undergoing trials in Victoria. Mrs Roberts' spokesman said the State Government was waiting for the results of the year-long trial, which started in December.

A WA Police Service spokesman said it believed drug-driving had to be addressed.

Victorian police and politicians have been shocked by the preliminary trial results, with one in 73 motorists testing positive.

Four months into the trial, 63 of 4619 people had returned positive test results.

The test requires motorists to place a small absorbent pad on their tongue for several seconds.

Preliminary results are known within five minutes and, if a positive result is returned, the driver is required to undergo a second test.

In WA, motorists can be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but detecting drug use can be problematic.

Police who suspect a motorist is driving under the influence can demand the person participate in a sobriety test, even if they pass the preliminary breath test.

If the motorist fails, which can include falling over or loss of hand-eye co-ordination, the officer can order the person to provide a blood sample, which can detect drug use.

In December, WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said that drug testing could be a big asset in the police road safety campaign and could be used to target long-distance truck drivers and nightclub patrons.

Opposition police spokesman Rob Johnson welcomed news that the draft for the laws had been finalised, but said he would wait until he saw the proposed legislation in detail before endorsing the laws.

"There are people being killed and injured because of other people who are driving under the influence of drugs," Mr Johnson said.

Motor Trade Association of WA chief executive Peter Fitzpatrick said he welcomed the proposed laws, provided a reliable system that stood up to scrutiny in court was adopted.

Victorian Police Minister Tim Holding said the ratio of drivers returning positive results was three times higher than for those breath-tested for alcohol.

Victorian Assistant Commissioner Bob Hastings said the results showed much needed to be done to change drivers' attitudes.

From The West
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