Concateno, Europes most experienced drug and alcohol testing provider, has called on Northern Irelands Department of the Environment to consider better approaches to drug driving enforcement.
The move comes following the Departments recent consultation on a revised drink driving limit. In its response to the consultation, Concateno recommended that any review of roadside enforcement of impairment through alcohol should also look at the related issue of drug driving.
We welcome this consultation as it opens the way for further evidence-based evaluation of the risks of driving having consumed alcohol,?said Graham Sievers, communications manager for Concateno. But it is also appropriate to consider how police can address the related problem of drug driving. Both alcohol and drugs are known to have impairing effects on driving ability and are currently covered by the same offence ?that of driving when impaired. If the objective is to create safer roads then it is important that the growing problem of drug driving is also given scrutiny.?
Drug driving is a recognised problem on Northern Irelands roads. In a Northern Ireland Executive press release of 29 May 2009, then Environment Minister Sammy Wilson said that research shows drug driving is a significant and persistent problem throughout Northern Ireland."
Concatenos recommendations
To address this challenge, Concateno has responded to the consultation with the following recommendations:
1. Routine drug and alcohol investigations in all traffic incidents where there are fatalities or injuries
2. Creation of a new zero tolerance?offence for driving with illicit drugs in the body
3. Creation of a legislative environment to allow police to use drug testing devices at the roadside
Why a change in the law is needed
Concateno has extensive experience in providing roadside drug testing solutions to various countries, including Australia, Croatia, Italy and Spain. Despite being a UK manufacturer, its technology is not used UK due to current law, which requires that any test must demonstrate that a driver is impaired. Sievers explains why this is a challenge:
One key difference between drugs and alcohol is that alcohol has been extensively researched and many countries have decided on minimum levels that could cause impairment. With drugs, there are a wider range of substances, far less research and ?particularly with illegal substances ?real practical difficulties in conducting that research. The secondary challenge is that even if one knew more about how a substance such as cocaine affects driving, will it ever be appropriate to set a safe?driving level?
Todays drug testing solutions can show that someone has taken drugs, but dont give an indicator as to how much they have taken, and how this has impaired their driving. This means that they dont offer the right level of evidence to help secure a conviction under UK law. For this reason, we believe that the only way to address drugs is to move from the need to test impairment ?as with todays law ?to an approach that measures whether someone has taken a drug at all. This zero tolerance approach is how other countries have addressed this challenge.
The Department of the Environments is now asking if law with regard to drink driving should be changed. It makes sense to use this exercise to also examine more practical measures to tackle drugs on our roads.?
ENDS
Notes for editors:
Roadside drug testing technology
Concatenos UK-manufactured Cozart DDS is already in use in other countries and provides a fast and simple way to screen saliva samples for the presence of up to six drugs in a matter of minutes.
Drug testing and deterrence
Case studies from other countries have indicated that the adoption of roadside testing helps to raise awareness of drug driving as a problem and can act as a deterrent to actively reduce drug driving related injuries and deaths. In Australia, the use of roadside drug testing devices as part of an ongoing road safety initiative helped to reduce the number of drug drivers by almost half in four years .
Since Australias State of Victoria introduced random testing in December 2004, more than 84,500 tests were conducted, with one in 62 drivers caught drug driving, according to the Victorian Governments Transport Accident Commission .
For more information regarding Concateno, please contact:
Adrian Brophy or Carrie Lowe
Telephone: +44 (0)1962 893 893
Mobile: +44 (0)7590 572 405 / (0)7554 014 188
Email: adrian.brophy@remarkablegroup.co.uk / carrie.lowe@remarkablegroup.co.uk
An introduction to Concateno
Concateno is the largest and most experienced drug and alcohol testing provider in Europe: a service provider with the facilities and expertise to genuinely deliver test programmes to meet any requirement ?from point-of-care instant tests, through to state-of-the-art laboratory analysis for any biological specimen including urine, oral fluids, hair and sweat.
Concatenos 300 staff support more than 8,000 customers globally, and the group performs approximately eight million tests annually. An integrated network of more than 500 sample collection officers, trained in-house in chain-of-custody procedures, supports clients around the world.
Committed to the highest levels of accreditation and quality assurance, Concateno works actively within the industry to improve existing best practice. This includes ISO 17025 (independently audited by UKAS), ISO9001:2000, Link-Up, and ISO13485:2003. In addition, the company is subject to a range of external and internal quality assurance programmes.
Our strategy
Concatenos goal is to be the top provider of drug and alcohol testing services in the world, providing the best expertise and testing resources in the field. With our own best-in-class products and facilities that can supply across the whole range of test requirements, our strategy is driven by customer need rather than product benefit.
Concateno has committed significant investment to research and development. Our joint development agreement with Philips (a diversified health and wellbeing company) to develop a new
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