A year after it dawned on officials that roadside drug testing would not be able to go ahead as planned, a workaround policy has been confirmed
The Land Transport Act is getting re-written again so roadside drug testing can finally go ahead.
Changes to the law were brought in so police could test drivers, and if impairment was detected, they could be held accountable.
The new regime was supposed to come into effect in March but it couldn’t because the oral testing devices the new plan relied on, didn’t exist. READ MORE: * Roadside drug testing could have gone ahead on time - Police Association * Politicians vow to resolve roadside drug testing ‘debacle’
Associate Transport Minister Damien O’Connor said a new “screening” plan had since been approved by Cabinet.
“Police can already conduct compulsory impairment tests on drivers they have good cause to suspect have used drugs. Under this new approach, positive saliva tests will be sent to the lab for evidential testing before an infringement notice is issued.
“Drivers who have two positive screening tests will be banned from driving for 12 hours.”
Amendments to the law are being drafted and will be introduced later this year.
It would take another 12 months before they would come into effect.
Police spent more than $1 million to implement the changed laws, with procurement officials warning in August last year that finding the devices would not be easy.
New infringements and criminal offences under the changes came into effect from March 11 as planned, but not the actual testing regime.
The Police Association has previously said if the problems with procurement had been front-footed, the solution that has now been proposed could have been rolled out in March instead.
Hayden Mischefski, whose grandmother Ora Keene was one of seven killed in a crash near Waverley in 2018, was cautiously optimistic about the plan.
"It’s a welcomed announcement, it’s been a long time coming, it’s much appreciated, and it brings a lot of closure.”
However, he said he’d still only believe it once the rollout had actually begun.
“It’s still dragging the chain. They’ve had a long time to plan and cost and look overseas and ask all the right people.
“It just should already be in place … there's been a lot of procrastination.”
The original intention was to use oral testing devices as a roadside testing tool. The device would detect qualifying drugs above a threshold and allow the issuing of roadside infringements, similar to alcohol breath testing.
The new plan is to use oral devices to detect the presence of a qualifying drug. Once a drug is detected, an oral fluid sample would be sent to a lab for detailed analysis.
"For commercial drivers, including truck drivers, New Zealand’s public roads are their workplaces. They share these roads with members of the public who may not have the driving hours, skills, or drug-testing regimes that professional drivers have." - Dom Kalasih, Transporting NZ.
Drug Foundation executive director Sarah Helm said while they wanted impaired drivers off the road, the focus should remain on developing an impairment tool to test for what the legislation originally intended.
She said the detection of drugs, which is what the new regime would do, was different to measuring impairment.
“Roadside screening, with the proposed confirmatory testing, will reduce the likelihood of an inaccurate result. However, it doesn’t solve the puzzle of whether the person was impaired or not. Moreover, any screening is unlikely to cover all substances the person can be impaired by.”
“It’d be great to see us shift to a focus on impairment rather than substance specific testing. That is the real concern here. Keeping drivers who are impaired by fatigue, prescription medicines, alcohol or illicit substances off the road.”
Police and Justice Minister Ginny Andersen said police already sent about 500 blood samples to the lab each year following roadside compulsory impairment tests.
“Roadside screening tests will complement that existing process and will mean that police will be able to drug test more drivers,” she said.
Interim chief executive of road freight lobby group Transporting NZ, Dom Kalasih, said the changes were well overdue.
“Between 2019 and 2021, drug and alcohol impairment were a factor in 43 percent of fatal crashes. Unless we get serious about this country’s approach to drug-impaired driving, New Zealand certainly isn’t on the Road to Zero."
"For commercial drivers, including truck drivers, New Zealand’s public roads are their workplaces. They share these roads with members of the public who may not have the driving hours, skills, or drug-testing regimes that professional drivers have.
“While businesses can mitigate their own health and safety risks, they cannot mitigate the randomness of drugged drivers on public roads.”
