More drivers on drugs than alcohol, South Australian tests show
Torpedo
More drivers on drugs than alcohol, SA tests show
AAP
July 18, 2010 2:05PM
MORE than 90 people a month are testing positive to driving under the
influence of drugs on South Australian roads, new figures show.
Premier Mike Rann says despite public education campaigns and harsher
penalties, people are still risking the lives of friends, family and other
road users by "being drugged up while they're driving''.
"The very bad news is that the detection rate of drug driving in South
Australia is twice that of drink driving,'' Mr Rann told journalists.
"Mixing drugs and driving is fatal and of course that's borne out by the
fact that 20 per cent of the people who were driving cars and died on our
roads last year ... had drugs in their blood.''
The figures for the 2009/10 financial year show that 46,400 drivers were
tested for drugs, with 1100 reported by police. The drug test covers speed,
ecstasy and cannabis.
"The message we're trying to get across today is that it's critically
important that young people in particular realise that mixing drugs and
driving is fatal,'' Mr Rann said.
SA Police assistant commissioner Bronwyn Chummier said the figures showed 82
per cent of drivers detected with drugs in their system were males, with 32
per cent of the detections aged under 30 and 34 per cent over 40.
She said she was "frustrated'' by the figures.
"These are things that are avoidable,'' she told journalists.
"If people just didn't do it then you would potentially save one-fifth of
the people that die on our roads.''
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