Recommendations for police enforcement of drugs in traffic. The use of drugs has been proved to affect driving skills and to lead to higher risk of crashes. Furthermore, a recent hospital study has found that drugs have played a role in about 10% of the seriously injured drivers in the Netherlands. On 1 July 2015 legislation will come into effect to help control the use of drugs in traffic. This legislation entails legal limits being set for five different types of drugs. Saliva testers and a test on physical features and behavioural characteristics will be made available to police in the Netherlands to enforce the proposed legislation. A test on physical features and behavioural characteristics can be used as a first pre-selection for the saliva test on drugs. As yet the saliva test is still too expensive and time-consuming for random use like the alcohol test. Eventually a blood test is required to establish that a road user participated in traffic under the influence of drugs to such an extent that his driving skills must be considered to be ‘impaired’. In the light of these new possibilities, this memo offers a number of recommendations for the enforcement of drug use in traffic. These recommendations concern both the effectiveness and the preparation and procedure of police enforcement.
Samenvatting