Police Enforce Roadside Drugs Test
Police across the North East are enforcing a new law that'll see drivers tested for drugs at the roadside.
Police across the North East are enforcing a new law that'll see drivers tested for drugs at the roadside.
Modelled on drink driving testing, legal limits will be placed on eight illegal drugs and eight prescription drugs.
From today, Durham, Cleveland and North Yorkshire Police will use saliva testing kits to find out if drivers are under the influence, and then take them to the station for urine and blood tests.
It’s after they say there’s been a rise in incidents on North East roads. The new law is aimed to make it easier for police to catch and convict drug drivers. Before now they’ve had to prove people were impaired, such as checking to see if their pupils were dilated.
The new law will be rolled out across the country, with each individual police force having the powers to enforce it. However Greater Manchester Police have said they WON’T be enforcing it. They think it could be a waste of police time and public money, they think there are a number of issues that haven’t been resolved around the new kit and prosecution chances.
But Yvonne Taylor, who works with North Yorkshire’s roads policing team, thinks our forces have made the right decision to roll it out. She said:
“There’s bound to be teething problems when new legislation is brought in. Its new, it’s new to the public and it’s new to the officers that are going to be enforcing it but it’s all about casualty reductions and that’s very much how we are viewing it.”
Inspector Ed Turner heads up Durham and Cleveland Road Policing, he added that the new legislation will raise awareness for users. He said:
“We know there a big demand throughout the country at the moment, as there is with my department, with my team and with policing throughout the region. But where there’s an issue, where there’s a problem, where’s there’s individuals or communities who are flouting the law, who are drink or drug driving, then we will target them.”
“It’s been quite difficult for us to do historically because we’d have to prove their eyeballs were dilated or they were showing some physical effects. We don’t have to do that now, if we can prove from a sample of saliva or responding to some intelligence that someone was drug driving we can then obtain some blood from them and take that through to prosecution.”