Australian efforts to increase road safety, such as initiatives targeting drink driving, speeding and the use of seat belts, have seen considerable reductions in road trauma in the past 30 years. There is recent evidence to suggest that drugs other than alcohol, both licit (for example, pharmaceutical drugs) and illicit (for example, cannabis, methamphetamines and ecstasy) are associated with impaired driving ability and, thus, road trauma. There remain, however, many questions regarding drug driving in Australia. For instance, little is known about the prevalence of drug driving within the general population, or about the attitudes and perceptions of drivers in relation to drug driving. Such information is important to inform the development of effective prevention and road safety countermeasures. Further, although much of the previous research, policy and media attention have focused on illicit drugs, there is increasing evidence that pharmaceutical drugs impair driving ability and thus may be a road safety concern. There is, however, little information regarding the prevalence of driving following pharmaceutical drug use and the community’s attitudes and perceptions towards the use of such drugs and driving. It was the aim of this research to address some of the gaps in the knowledge by exploring the Australian community’s attitudes, experience and understanding of drugs and driving, in relation to alcohol, illicit drugs and pharmaceutical drugs. The ultimate aim was to inform the development of effective policy, and information and education campaigns, targeting drug driving. The research consisted of three stages: a review of the literature regarding drug driving; in-depth interviews with 20 key stakeholders from the Australian drug and alcohol and/or road safety sectors; and an Internet survey of Australian drivers (N=6801). The focus of the data collected from these three sources was on the prevalence of drug driving in Australia; the driving impairment associated with drug use; the attitudes and perceptions of drivers towards drugs and driving; and the road safety countermeasures adopted to address drugs and driving. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting