Driver drug testing: expanding the regime

Legislation to introduce roadside driver drug testing into South Australia became operative on 1 July, 2006. A dedicated trial was established by South Australia Police (SAPOL) in partnership with the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI) to examine all facets of the regime over a 12 month period. The success of the trial saw the SA Government commit A$11.1 million dollars over 4 years for the expansion of the driver drug testing regime in South Australia. The expansion of driver drug testing was based on the use of 260 traffic enforcement section officers situated throughout the State performing driver drug testing duties. The model moved away from the centralised model established in SAPOL and other Jurisdictions in Australia where all operations were under the one command. This enabled driver drug testing to be conducted in a similar fashion to random breath testing in that tests can be conducted in multiple locations at any one time and coordinated independently of each other. The success of the expansion now sees SAPOL testing nearly 40,000 drivers for drugs each year. The introduction of driver drug testing and the subsequent expansion across South Australia is helping to achieve goals set in the South Australia Police Road Safety Strategy 2006-2010 and the SA Road Safety Action Plan 2008-2010. The strategy and plan aim to achieve a reduction by 40 per cent in road fatalities by 2010 and reduction in serious injury crashes to less than 995 people a year.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9780958569132
• Authors:
  • Thompson, P
• Conference:
  • Australasian College of Road Safety National Conference, 2009, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
• Publication Date: 2009-11

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 9p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crash severity; Drugged drivers; Highway safety; Law enforcement; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: South Australia
• ATRI Terms: Crash countermeasure; Crash severity; Drug driving; Law enforcement; Road safety
• Subject Areas: Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01381022
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: ARRB
• ISBN: 9780958569132
• Files: ATRI
• Created Date: Aug 22 2012 11:36AM