Pubdate: Sat, 23 Apr 2005
Source: Dominion Post, The ( New Zealand )
Copyright: 2005 The Dominion Post
Contact:  http://www.dompost.co.nz
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2550
Author: Chalpat Sonti

DEATH BY DRUGS AND DRIVING

As fatal road accidents go, it was graphic enough: a man and his son killed 
after a car crashed into a bank on the Wainuiomata Hill.

But the deaths of Mark and Brendan Hall also had a more disturbing aspect - 
drugs in the blood.

Both Mark, 45, and Brendan, 17, were found with methamphetamine and 
cannabis in their blood following the crash.  Methamphetamine crystals and 
a cannabis pipe were also found in the vehicle.

The death of the Halls is part of an increasing trend in New Zealand: road 
death caused by the driver being under the influence of drugs.

Health Ministry figures show deaths in crashes where drugs were a 
contributing factor were proportionally 15 times higher in 2003 than they 
were just eight years earlier.  The number injured in such crashes more 
than doubled in the same time.

But what can be done? Police national road safety manager Superintendent 
Steve Fitzgerald says parallels can be drawn with the long battle against 
drink-driving.

And the battle against drugs looks similar to the beginnings of that 
against drink.  Last May, at the start of a one-year trial, the pupil 
dilation test was dusted off, along with variations on other old manual 
drink-drive roadside tests, such as "walking the line", standing on one leg 
or some other balancing act.

About 30 police throughout the country were trained to conduct the tests, 
skills that had been lost to the force as technology slowly took over, Mr 
Fitzgerald says.

Anyone thought to be under the influence of drugs would be taken to a 
medical practitioner, who would decide if the person was capable of 
driving.  If not, they could be charged with driving under the influence of 
drugs.  The maximum penalty is two years in prison or a $6000 fine, as well 
as a one-year licence disqualification.

But instead of these manual tests, why not do blood tests? Too expensive, 
Mr Fitzgerald says.  They can cost up to $3000.  The manual tests are still 
scientific enough to gain a conviction.

That does not mean technology will be held at bay.  Police are watching a 
roadside drug-testing trial by their counterparts in the Australian state 
of Victoria.

This was in response to figures showing that, in 2003, about 31 per cent of 
drivers killed in Victoria tested positive to drugs other than alcohol.

The trial is about half completed.  A "drug bus" pulls over motorists at 
random and takes samples of their saliva.

If this returns a positive, it is then analysed for traces of 
methamphetamine or tetrahydracannabinol, the active ingredient in cannabis.

Drivers must either wait at the roadside till the test returns negative or 
get someone else to pick them up.

The saliva test is analysed in a laboratory, a procedure that takes some 
weeks.

Australian research shows someone who has taken cannabis or methamphetamine 
and then driven is at the same risk of crashing as someone with a blood 
alcohol concentration of 0.05g/100ml ( the legal limit in Australia.  In 
New Zealand it is 0.08 ).

Penalties in Victoria range from a fine of about $330 for a first offence 
to four times that for repeat offenders.

The maximum penalty is about half what a recidivist drink-driver would get 
in Victoria.  So far, about one in 73 motorists has tested positive for drugs.

The word from police doing the New Zealand testing seems to be to expect 
few surprises.

Though there do not appear to be the same number of New Zealanders caught 
driving under the influence of drugs as in Victoria, the problem is out 
there, Mr Fitzgerald says.

And motorists are not helping.

"If people out there don't think there's any chance of being caught, 
they'll still take the risk."

One group that does not appear to be taking the risk are truck 
drivers.  They were among the targets of the Victorian trial, with drivers 
taking methamphetamine to stay awake on long-haul routes.

There was no evidence to indicate a similar problem here.

It seems only a matter of time, perhaps even months, before saliva tests 
become the norm in New Zealand.   
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MAP posted-by: Beth