This study aimed to examine a group of Queensland motorists’ perceptions of legal (certainty, severity and swiftness) and non legal (social, internal and physical) sanctions associated with drug driving, as well as investigate the impact of random roadside drug testing and non legal sanctions on intentions to drug drive. Overall, the findings’ revealed that respondents considered the recent legal sanctions associated with drug driving to be certain and severe but not swift. In regards to non legal sanctions, majority of respondents reported being concerned about social sanctions such as losing friends’ respect, and internal loss, whilst more than half reported being concerned about physical loss such as injuring themselves. The second part of the study compared a group of convicted drug offenders to a group of demographically matched general motorists, on their past drug driving behaviours, perceptions of legal and non-legal sanctions and intentions to offend. The results revealed that convicted offenders were significantly more likely to drug drive at least once in the last 6 months, and despite being recently apprehended for drug use, were significantly more likely to report intentions to re-offend in the future. This paper will further outline the major findings’ of the study and highlight the implications in regards to increasing the deterrent impact of random roadside drug testing in Queensland. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E217612.
Abstract