Whether you see it as a valuable road safety initiative or harassment, what can’t be denied is the increase in people failing roadside drug testing in NSW over the past decade.
New research from the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) shows a sharp increase in drug driving charges in NSW over the past decade. In 2014, just over 1,400 people faced drug driving charges. By 2023, that number had surged to 13,815, marking an 836% rise.
According to BOCSAR, two primary factors have contributed to this increase. These are expanded roadside drug testing efforts on NSW roads and a higher detection rate.
Testing volumes have risen dramatically over the last decade, growing from approximately 20,000 to 156,000 tests per year. Additionally, targeted efforts toward likely and repeat offenders have raised detection rates from around two to three percent to over 10 percent.
BOCSAR believes the rise in drug driving charges isn’t linked to a significant shift in drug use or driving behaviours, but rather to enhanced testing and enforcement.
Jackie Fitzgerald, BOCSAR’s Executive Director, noted that these findings highlight the commitment of NSW Police to road safety.
NSW roadside drug testing is harassing motorists
While governments, police forces and many people consider roadside drug testing a valuable road safety initiative, it’s not a view shared by everyone.
An example of this is a post on the BOCSAR research by a Sydney law firm titled NSW Police Continue to Harass Motorists with Unjust Zero-Tolerance Drug Driving Laws. With words like ‘harass’ in the title and ‘dodgy’ in the article, you’re left with little doubt over the writer’s view on roadside drug testing.
The post highlights correctly that, like in other states, NSW roadside drug testing relies on a series of tests to determine a driver’s ability to drive safely.
In NSW, for example, if the initial roadside test is positive, a second test is performed using the Draeger Drug Test 5000. This is the same highly accurate and reliable equipment that Integrity Sampling uses for most of its workplace drug testing. However, even this is not considered conclusive. If the second test also returns positive, the sample is sent to a lab for confirmatory analysis.
So, what is the main argument of people who disagree with drug driving laws? Mostly, it’s that while drink driving is based on measured blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels, drug driving tests for the presence of certain drugs. They believe the former determines inebriation, while the later doesn’t.
While we would argue that this argument isn’t entirely correct, what do you think? Do you believe roadside drug testing is harassment of NSW motorists or a valid road safety initiative?
Before you answer, consider these points:
- There is evidence that offending, like drug driving, can be deterred if people feel they have a higher likelihood of apprehension. We only need to look at the successful alcohol testing programs for evidence of this.
- With around 160,000 roadside drug tests conducted in NSW each year, a state of around 6 million drivers, only a small percentage of drivers are being tested. This is mostly due to resourcing and is why police generally target likely or repeat offenders.
- Transport of NSW figures show there were 1404 road accidents between 2019 and 2024 where drug use was a factor, resulting in 372 deaths and 1816 injuries.
- In Victoria, a Monash University study found that when roadside drug testing increased from 42,000 to 100,000, 33 fatal accidents and 80 serious injury crashes were prevented each year.
FEATURED IMAGE CAPTION:
Is roadside drug testing in NSW a valuable road safety initiative or are drivers simply being harassed? Credit Highway Patrol Images https://www.flickr.com/photos/special-fx/8501177636/
