Pubdate: Fri, 23 Jan 2004
Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)
Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2004
Contact:  http://www.stuff.co.nz/otago
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/925
Author: New Zealand Press Association
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

POLICE TO TRIAL DRUG TESTING OF DRIVERS

Hamilton: Police plan to trial drug testing of drivers at checkpoints by
June.

Police national road safety manager Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald
said the trial would run in several districts at once for between
three and six months.

People found driving while on drugs would be charged, but the trial's
purpose was mainly to assess how bad the problem was.

"We would likely go to areas where we thought the problem [with drugs
and driving] was bad like Northland and the Bay of Plenty . . . then
we might also go to areas where we think the problem isn't as bad to
get a good idea of how big the problem is," Supt Fitzgerald said.

Waikato and Christchurch were understood as being considered but Supt
Fitzgerald would not reveal details.

He said trained staff would be 95% accurate in determining if people
were on drugs.

Police would examine drivers' pupil dilation and those suspected of
having used drugs would have to do co-ordination tests like walking in
a straight line.

Drivers would be taken to hospital for further tests to confirm police
suspicions.

Under the Land Transport Act it is an offence to drive under the
influence of a drug to the extent of being "incapable of having proper
control".

It is not illegal to drive with drugs in your system and the threshold
to charge people - as being "incapable of driving" - is something
police are carefully considering.

Mr Fitzgerald said police were waiting to see the results of a trial
in Victoria, Australia - where 7000 heavy vehicle drivers were being
tested over a year from July - before they made a final decision.

Mr Fitzgerald said police had little evidence that people were driving
on drugs, and were relying on anecdotal information and the fact New
Zealand follows overseas trends.

As well as the New Zealand trial, Environmental Science and Research
(ESR) will test crash victims' blood for drugs.

Mr Fitzgerald said he hoped police would be drug testing drivers
throughout the country within the next two years.

The Automobile Association and LTSA both said they were behind the
move.

Greens MP Nandor Tanczos dismissed the plan as "ill conceived and
unworkable".

While he supported keeping impaired drivers off the road, Mr Tanczos
said current tests could only prove if someone had used cannabis "at
some point in the past" - not whether they were presently stoned.

Nor had police established a threshold for when drivers were
"incapable of having proper control" according to traffic laws, he
said.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin