Changes to the roadside drug testing regime are being implemented after earlier plans to roll out the policy hit a roadblock.
Road freight body Transporting New Zealand is welcoming the move which it says will help keep drug impaired drivers off the road.
The new regime was supposed to come into effect in March but was stalled as the testing devices required were not available. Its original intention was to carryout roadside drug testing in a similar way to how alcohol breath testing is run in New Zealand.
Police and justice minister Ginny Andersen says a new “screening” test will now be implemented which is a “sensible, practical move that will detect qualifying drugs and help remove impaired drivers from behind the wheel”.
Roadside screening will use the devices to detect the presence of a qualifying drug. Once a drug is detected, an oral fluid sample will be sent to a lab for detailed analysis. It’s after this analysis that recent use can be determined and an infringement issued.
Drivers who have two positive screening tests will be banned from driving for 12 hours, as well as receiving an infringement fee and demerit points.
“Each year police send around 500 blood samples to the lab following roadside compulsory impairment tests. Roadside screening tests will complement that existing process and will mean that police will be able to drug test more drivers,” Andersen says.
Transporting NZ interim chief executive Dom Kalasih says seeing a reduction in drug-related harm on the roads is a particular priority for the organisation’s road freight members.
“Transporting New Zealand has been advocating for a robust random roadside drug testing regime for years, to ensure the safety of all road users.
“Between 2019 and 2021, drug and alcohol impairment were a factor in 43% of fatal crashes. Unless we get serious about this country’s approach to drug impaired driving, New Zealand certainly isn’t on the road to zero.
“For commercial drivers, including truck drivers, New Zealand’s public roads are their workplaces. They share these roads with members of the public who may not have the driving hours, skills, or drug-testing regimes that professional drivers have.
“While businesses can mitigate their own health and safety risks, they cannot mitigate the randomness of drugged drivers on public roads,” Kalasih says.
The Government’s announcement follows a pledge by National Party transport spokesperson Simeon Brown at Transporting NZ’s June conference that they would ensure the rollout of the random roadside drug testing regime if elected.
“Setting politics aside, we just need these fixes implemented and a robust roadside drug testing regime in place as soon as possible,” Kalasih says.
Cabinet has approved amendments to the drug testing regime under the Land Transport Act 1998.
The amendments are currently being drafted and will be introduced later this year with a select committee process before they go through a second and third reading.
It is expected to take 12 months before the amendments are in force to allow police to undertake a procurement process for the roadside oral screening devices and labs for testing oral fluid samples.
