Duncan Gay/Stuart Ayres med rel: New figures reveal road deaths from illicit drugs

Minister for Roads and Freight Duncan Gay and Minister for Police and Emergency Services Stuart Ayres today announced that for the first time, NSW has figures showing the alarming impact drug driving has on our roads.

“For the first time in this state’s history we have undertaken research that allows us to uncover that a disturbing 11 per cent of road fatalities involved a driver or motorcyclist who had illicit drugs in their system,” Mr Gay said.

“We know that in the last four years, at least 166 people died on our roads in crashes involving motorists with at least one of three illicit drugs, cannabis, speed or ecstasy in their system.

“We will be stepping up the fight to remove this behaviour from our roads and help save the lives of innocent motorists endangered by the idiotic actions of drug drivers,” Mr Gay said.

Mr Ayres said drug driving is an illegal and dangerous activity and this new information will allow the NSW Government to better target and prosecute people who engage in it.

“We are learning a number of critical factors about drug driving, including the fact that in the past four years, 40 per cent of drug driving offences and fatal crashes involved a drug driver that was under the age of 30. This information will allow us to tailor our education campaigns more effectively.

“We have been highly successful in reducing alcohol-related trauma in the past 30 years, with drink driving fatalities reducing from 30 per cent in 1980, to 15 per cent in 2013. We believe education and enforcement will assist in helping reduce the prevalence of drug driving.

“We are also seeing continual advancements in the effectiveness of drug testing technologies.

“The Police are now using a new and improved drug testing machine, the Drager DrugTest® 5000. The machine has more sensitive detection thresholds and will reduce the proportion of drivers who are screened as negative at the roadside,” Mr Ayres said.

Mr Gay said these devices are paid for directly from fines from mobile, red light and speed cameras, which also pay for other important safety initiatives.

“Every cent from mobile, red light and speed cameras goes into the Community Road Safety Fund, which then goes towards investing in improved safety for our community.

“We rolled out the second phase of school flashing lights at the end of July, which is a key part of this funding; the rollout of this drug detection equipment is another important investment.

“Safety on our roads is our number one priority and investing in reducing the incidents of drug driving and fatalities on our roads is a top priority for the NSW Government and our local communities,” Mr Gay said.