We join police’s drug-drive tests
DRINK-DRIVERS killed more than 1,600 people in 1979. Fast-forward to the latest official figures, and 230 people died at the hands of drink-drivers in 2016. That’s still 230 too many, but it shows how dramatic an improvement in road safety a shift in public perception can bring.
Authorities are now turning their attention to drugdriving. Police previously had to prove a motorist’s driving was affected by drugs, but a change to the law in 2015 means officers now need only prove the presence of drugs in someone’s system to arrest them.
Along with updated laws, an important tool in the fight against intoxicated driving is the Drugwipe roadside drug test. Capable of detecting cannabis and cocaine in a suspect’s saliva, Drugwipe means officers can check if a driver has taken illegal drugs almost as easily as they can excess alcohol.
But while laws and detection systems surrounding drug-driving have become more stringent, officers are concerned that the message isn’t getting through.
Police in essex, for example, arrested 754 drugdrivers in 2017 (up from 705 in 2016), and look set to arrest more than 900 drivers for the offence before 2018 is out. Nationwide, 25,000 drug-drivers were caught between March 2015 and January 2018.
We’re joining essex Police’s road traffic division for a shift, to find out what sort of challenges officers face, and what public reaction to the updated laws has been.
Power
Traffic officer Mark Hewitt gives us a briefing before we head off. “We’ve always had the power to investigate drug-driving, but ‘touch your nose’ field impairment tests are very subjective”, PC Hewitt says.
The arrival of the Drugwipe test, which looks very much like a home pregnancy test, has removed that subjectivity. Drivers who provide a positive saliva sample at the roadside are arrested and taken to a police station for a blood test, which forms the evidential basis for prosecution.
“The legislation is quite good from our perspective,” Hewitt says. “Anyone who has committed a moving road traffic offence gives us the power to require a sample of saliva from them, no different from a drinkdrive test.” Refusal to provide a saliva sample is an arrestable offence in itself and, unlike alcohol, which disappears relatively quickly from people’s bodies, drugs, and cannabis in particular, can be detected days after they have been taken.
PC Hewitt says drivers are often unaware of this. “I’ve heard people say they smoked two days ago, and the test has come back positive.” He admits, however, that the people he encounters might not always be telling the truth on that one.
We finish our coffee, wrap up the chat and head out on patrol to Hewitt’s unmarked Ford Focus st estate. We’re on the lookout for people who are driving in a manner consistent with drug use, and it doesn’t take long to find our first suspect.
A Ford Transit overtakes a car on a roundabout exit. It’s an eye-catching manoeuvre, not least for the van’s bright blue colour. Hewitt can’t ignore it, and puts on his blues and twos. We pull up the van in a layby, and its driver immediately concedes he was driving too fast. “I’ve just spent an age stuck behind four tractors,” he explains. “I put my foot down, and shouldn’t have.”
The driver agrees to a Drugwipe test, so Hewitt removes the cap, wipes the end of it on the