Bill to target ‘hidden killer’
It’s been more than a decade since Malcolm Barnett’s stepdaughter was killed in a road crash by a driver high on P.
Yet the Taupo man believes police are still not equipped to get drug-impaired drivers off New Zealand’s roads.
Barnett is supporting a new member’s bill which would give officers the ability to conduct roadside saliva tests for cannabis, MDMA and methamphetamine, but he said yesterday it had taken far too long for preventive steps to be taken.
‘‘Stop dicking around. They [the government] talk about trying to make our roads safer and all the rest of it. Part of the way to make our roads safer is to get these people off the road.’’
In September 2005, 18-year-old Krystal Bennett was driving home when disqualified driver Leah Wai Peneha drove 300 metres down the wrong side of River Rd, Upper Hutt, and into her car while high on P.
The fatal head-on crash saw Peneha convicted of the teenager’s manslaughter, but Barnett was still adamant roadside saliva testing could have prevented Krystal’s death.
After years of campaigning, Barnett has renewed his call for the government to give police the tools to drug test drivers.
‘‘If legislation can only be done at Parliament level, then get something done ... give police the power to do it.
‘‘This is not going to save our daughter, but if we can save some other poor bastard going through what we’ve had to, then that’s got to be a bonus,’’ Barnett said.
National’s Wairarapa MP Alastair Scott’s member’s bill would allow police to carry out saliva testing when a driver was suspected of being drug-impaired.
He planned to put the Land Transport (Random Oral Fluid Testing) Amendment Bill into the ballot by Tuesday next week.
‘‘It will bring us into the 21st century,’’ Scott said.
Currently, when an officer suspects a driver is impaired by drugs, a compulsory impairment test (CIT), which includes eye and behavioural assessments such as standing on one leg, can be carried out. Those who fail can be forbidden to drive for 12 hours, and asked to give a blood sample.
Scott described CIT as ‘‘archaic’’ and said saliva testing ‘‘represents a much stronger and more visible drug driving enforcement measure’’.
Police Minister Stuart Nash was yet to see the bill, but was open to hearing about Scott’s ideas.
‘‘If technology exists to allow for this type of roadside testing in a timely, efficient and reliable way, we should be looking at it,’’ Nash said.
Random roadside saliva testing was last reviewed by the government in May 2012.
The review found that while testing could detect drugs, it could not show the level of impairment.
‘‘About one in three drivers who die in crashes have some sort of impairing drug in their system.’’
AA road safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen
Testing devices were not considered reliable enough for criminal prosecutions.
The time it took to test people was also criticised. Unlike breathalcohol testing, which took seconds, saliva testing took ‘‘at least five minutes’’.
The Automobile Association (AA) said it was time for change.
‘‘Drug-driving is a hidden killer on New Zealand roads,’’ AA road safety spokesman Dylan Thomsen said.
‘‘About one in three drivers who die in crashes have some sort of impairing drug in their system.
‘‘The simple fact is that, right now, we are doing very little to actually try and catch those people,’’ Thomsen said.
In the year to June 2017, 442 drug-driving offences were recorded by police.
‘‘In Australia, [police checkpoints] catch more drug drivers than they do drunk drivers,’’ Thomsen said.
Police said it would be ‘‘inappropriate’’ for them to comment on proposed legislation.