Just received some information about prosecutions for the year 2000.
1,800 for driving under the influence of drugs and 84,000 for drink driving.
"at present an officer can only request a person to carry out a field
impairment test (FIT); there is no statutory requirement and it is not an
offence to refuse. However the Government have made a commitment in the Road
Safety Strategy to make FIT a legal requirement. We have also committed
ourselves to giving police the power to require suspected drivers to provide
a specimen for analysis by means of a suitable device" Home Office
Ray McGlone
Lancaster
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 9:24 PM
Subject: Re: Drugs and Road Accidents
> For my sins, I am currently one of the two local FME's in Scarborough. One
of
> the irritating jobs is to assess the fitness to drive due to drugs which
can
> of course be difficult. If the FME says there is evidence of drug
intoxication
> then the boys in blue are entitled to request a blood test (they could
request
> urine which I believe gives better results but they prefer blood in our
patch)
>
> One of the problems is that a good brief can get the punter off by saying
that
> they are addicted and consequently the level found in the blood is
tolerated
> by the driver so the mere presence of a drug will not get a prosecution
like
> it can for alcohol.
> What of the drug addict who drives whilst withdrawing?
> I saw this as a registrar in orthopaedics. There was a death in the other
car
> and the driver had severe leg fractures. His 8 year old son who was
unharmed
> and concerned for his dad, said did it matter that his father had not
taken
> his methadone or DF118 for two days?
>
> >I was called into the hospital recently to deal with casualties from a
>road
> traffic accident. No fatalities thankfully, but 4 out of the 6(!) >in the
car
> had serious injuries. The usual problem of alcohol and people >not wearing
seatbelts.
> On this occasion I managed to find out that they >had also been on ecstasy
and
> smoking cannabis that night. The driver had >no recollection of the
accident
> due to the combination of drugs taken.
> >
> >The police will prosecute because the individual failed the alcohol
>test....
> but and this is the reason I am moved to write. It is very >likely that
the
> Police would not have taken this further if the driver >had not failed the
alcohol
> test. In short other drugs are usually not >considered by the police even
though
> they may have been contributary to >the road "accident". The Police don't
have
> a simple test that they >routinely use for other drugs.
> >
> >The problem with cannabis is that it's half life is 57 hours so can be
>detected
> in the body for a long time. Cannabis has caused road accidents >but there
seems
> no mechanism for the Police to target this.
> >
> >
> >Any thoughts?
> >
> >Ray McGlone
> >
> >A&E Consultant
> >Royal Lancaster Infirmary / Westmorland General Hospital
> >
> >http://www.mbha.nhs.uk/morecambe_bay_hospitals_trust.htm
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
|