As the UK marks the 10th anniversary of Section 5A of the
Road Traffic Act, D.tec International - the UK supplier of
DrugWipe, the Home Office Type Approved roadside drug driver
screening device used by all 43 UK police forces – and The AA are
calling on the government to update legislation to allow police
to take evidential saliva confirmation samples at the roadside.
This crucial reform would close loopholes that allow drug drivers
to evade justice and help save lives.
With the Crime and Policing Bill introduced in Parliament last
week, the government has a key opportunity to address the growing
epidemic of drug driving and its devastating consequences. The
Bill aims to halve serious violence over a decade, tackling
antisocial behaviour, increasing police presence, banning
dangerous weapons, and cracking down on shoplifting. But which of
these priorities accounts for five lives lost and 77 serious
injuries every single day? In 2023 alone, 1,624 people were
killed on UK roads - more than from murder and terrorism combined
- yet road crime appears absent from discussions.
When Section 5A came into force in March 2015, it made it illegal
to drive with specified controlled drugs in the body above set
limits, bringing drug driving laws in line with drink driving
legislation. While this was a landmark step forward, the system
that follows a positive roadside drug drive result is failing
victims, families, and communities.
Under current law, if a driver tests positive at the roadside,
police must obtain an evidential blood sample, which is not
always possible. Even when it is, there is a shocking delay of up
to six months before results return from the laboratory - during
which time the offender remains free to drive.
Worse still, an unknown number of drug drivers evade justice
entirely when labs fail to return results within those six
months, the legal deadline for police to authorise charges for
road traffic offences such as drink and drug driving.
Other countries have already moved past this outdated evidential
blood only system:
-
Australia has been used immediate, roadside evidential saliva
sampling for nearly two decades, combining this with
laboratory testing for rapid case resolution.
-
France recognised the failures of evidential blood sampling
and switched to roadside evidential saliva testing, achieving
a virtually perfect confirmation rate and cutting laboratory
processing times to just two to three days.
The Crime and Policing Bill could include provisions for
evidential roadside saliva testing for drug driving, bringing the
UK in line with Australia, France and many other jurisdictions
where justice is swift and effective. However, if this Bill fails
to address the growing drug drive issue, the government as in the
Home Office, Department for Transport and the Ministry of Justice
must work collaboratively via another mechanism to deliver this
critical legislative reform.
Dangerous drivers must be stopped before they kill, and our
justice system must no longer enable offenders to walk free. This
is a matter of life and death with nearly 5 fatalities every day.
The AA has long been campaigning for better drug driving
enforcement since it held a Drug Drive RoundTable with the Home
Office, Police, Medical professionals, DfT and drug detection
companies back in 2008.
Ean Lewin, Managing Director of D.tec International,
commented: “For over a decade, we have allowed a
broken system to keep drug drivers on our roads while victims and
their families continue to suffer. Right now, a driver who fails
a roadside drug test can legally remain behind the wheel for up
to six months - and if they plead Not Guilty, potentially for
over a year. This is solely because outdated laws force police to
rely on impractical blood confirmation testing, plagued by
inherent laboratory delays. Worse still, an unknown number of
offenders escape justice entirely when these delays exceed the
six-month prosecution window. That is nothing short of a national
disgrace.
If the government is truly committed to public safety, I urge the
Home Office, the Department for Transport, and the Ministry of
Justice to act now. The solution is simple: allow police to take
immediate roadside evidential saliva samples. Other countries
have done this for years - why is the UK still falling behind?"
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy for The AA,
said; “Drug driving is fast becoming a major road safety
concern which needs urgent action.
“Modernising the prosecution process can help take more dangerous
drivers off the road, while keeping costs down for police forces.
Similarly, just one in 10 believe that drug drivers will be
caught and prosecuted which often means people feel they can get
away with it.
“Hiring 1,000 more roads police, as well as allowing saliva
samples as evidence will stop people getting behind the wheel
after taking illegal substances.”
