More road deaths in 2017 involved drugged drivers than those over the alcohol limit, figures obtained by the AA reveal.
Drugs (illegal and/or medications) were proven in drivers involved in 79 fatal crashes in 2017. That’s nine more than for alcohol (above limit or test refused), according to the AA.
Last year’s drugged-driving figure is 20 more than in 2016 (59) and alcohol was involved in 67 fatal crashes that year – three less than 2017.
Just 27 drugged drivers were involved in fatal crashes in 2015 (72 less than 2017). Drivers above the alcohol limit in 2015 after involvement in fatal crashes numbered 66 (one less than the next year).
Some drivers will have tested positive for both drugs and alcohol.
The figures come from the Crash Analysis System that records details of New Zealand road crashes.
“These figures confirm how big a problem drugged-driving is on our roads and why we have to give police saliva-based testing devices to catch impaired drivers,” AA road safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen says.
“We now have more crash deaths where people test positive for a drug than alcohol – it’s time to act.”
The AA says the Government should give police more tools to test and catch dangerous drugged drivers on our roads.
Excluding alcohol, the two most commonly detected drugs were cannabis and methamphetamine (P).
The AA says a particularly worrying trend is that cases of methamphetamine being detected have shot up in recent years.
A range of other drugs and medications that impair driving also feature in the results.
The AA believes the big jump in the drugged-driving result is likely due to more thorough testing following crashes.
“No one wants someone who is high driving towards their family at 100km/h, but right now the chances of being caught drugged driving is tiny. We have to change that,” Thomsen says.
“About 95% of AA members in our surveys support introducing saliva-based drug testing.”
Police testing a driver for drugs requires an officer to have strong cause to suspect drug use and then to take the driver to a police station for an old-fashioned walk-and-turn test.
“The current system almost needs a driver to be sitting in the car with drugs on the seat next to them to get tested and the current test takes up a huge amount of an officer’s time – meaning the chances of drugged drivers being caught are slim,” Thomsen says.
“The saliva testing devices being used in many other countries would be much faster and allow many more potentially drug impaired drivers to be tested than the current approach.”
