Roadside drug testing: unanswered questions and future challenges

Abstract

Discussions about the drug-driving issue have been gathering momentum for several years in Australia, particularly in Victoria since the Parliamentary Inquiry into the effects of drugs on road safety; and drug-driving now features as a prominent theme in both and national road safety strategies. Since being introduced in Victoria in December 2004, random drug testing (RDT) at the roadside has been implemented or being considered in most other states and territories. There are different legislative approaches used to tackle drug-driving worldwide. The approach adopted in Australia is one in which the detection capability of the technology, rather than the demonstration of performance impairment, is used to define illegal behaviour. Furthermore, data reported from the Standard Impairment Assessments in Victoria show that levels of illicit and licit substances detected are extremely high: in the case of illicit substances not indicative of low level use, and in the case of licit substances certainly indicative of use not in a prescribed way. From a road safety perspective, there have been major reductions in serious and fatal injuries over the previous decades, brought about through improvements in (for example) vehicle design and key behavioural campaigns targeting drink-driving, seat-belt wearing, speeding and fatigue. Language: en