10 August 2004 - Road Safety Minister Outlines Drink and Drug Driving Reduction Measures
The
International Conference on Alcohol, Drugs and Traffic Safety (ICADTS) took
place in Glasgow yesterday, with speaker Mr David Jamieson, Road Safety
Minister, outlining the Governments' commitment to further reduce the United
Kingdoms' road casualties, by the curbing of drink and drug-driving.
Mr Jamieson outlined the following measures:
-
trials of alcohol locks - devices fitted to the car which require the driver to provide an alcohol-free breath sample before the car will start
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evidential roadside breath test - meaning that the breath test taken at the side of the road can be used as evidence, rather than a blood test taken later
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continuation of the successful Think! anti-drink-driving campaigns
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wider use of field impairment testing - roadside tests to help police to judge whether a driver may be impaired
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technology to detect the presence of drugs at the roadside is being developed
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continued targeted publicity to inform people of the dangers of driving while impaired by drugs.
David Jamieson, Road Safety Minister commented:
"The UK generally has a good road safety record, but on average 10 people are killed and 100 seriously injured every day - with about one in 6 of these as a result of drink-driving. We must reduce that number.
"There is a lot that we are doing in many aspects of road safety, but this conference places prominence on the dangers of drink and drug-driving. These are areas of concern. Drink-driving, and the casualties it causes, has reduced considerably over the last 30 years, but there is a small core of people who continue to drink and drive. This is a danger to them and all other road users.
"Drug-driving is a newer problem, and considerably more complex. By co-operation and collaboration at events such as this we can make headway on dealing with the problem. But we must continue to educate people that if you're using drugs you must not drive, and we will continue our enforcement and severe penalties against those people who do."
Article by Alexandra Johnston
