Drug Driving - Don't Discover the Facts by Accident

"Drug Driving" describes anyone who drives under the influence of a substance, which affects their ability to drive. The detrimental influence of alcohol on the ability to drive safely is proven. The BMA recognises that a similar problem now exists in relation to the influence of drugs (both illegal and prescribed) on driving skills. Drugs affect the way you think and behave and this can have a significant impact on judgement and reaction times.

NEVER DRIVE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ANY DRUGS

All the following drugs can affect your driving:

• Prescription Drugs
• Over the counter drugs
• Recreational Drugs
• Illicit Drugs

Drug driving is an emerging issue with police forces reporting as many as 25% of driver fatalities having traces of illegal drugs in their system. National figures suggest that there has been a six fold increase in (illicit) drug driving over the past 10 years.

Causing an accident while driving under the influence of drugs, including alcohol, can have serious consequences, such as injury or death to others and could result in a prison sentence. Losing your licence.

The legal position
Whilst there are currently no legal limits for drugs as there are with alcohol, it is still an offence to drive under the influence of any drug.

The provision in law that applies is section four of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which states "a person who, when driving or attempting to drive a motor vehicle on a road or a public place is unfit to drive through drink or drugs is guilty of an offence".

In September 2003 section 6 of the Road Traffic Act was amended. In its place, schedule 7 contains six new sections giving new powers for the police to administer three preliminary tests - a breathalyser test, an impairment test, and a test for the presence of drugs in a person's body.

Penalties faced by drug drivers
If a person is proven to be unfit to drive through the use of drugs (illicit and prescribed) they face the same penalties as those who drive under the influence of alcohol.

"At the very least you will be disqualified from driving for a year and be heavily fined, with the option of imprisonment. If you cause death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol or DRUGS you can spend up to ten years in prison and have to pay an unlimited fine." (DETR: Drinking and driving wrecks lives leaflet for DVLA).

Field Impairment Tests are proven tests, which originate from the USA where trained officers have been accurately assessing a driver's ability to drive, for many years.

Driving is a complex divided attention task (doing more than one thing at once), composed of many parts. Typically a driver uses both physical and mental activities such as: information handling, short term memory, judgment and decision making, muscle control and vision.

The tests involve performing various simple tasks including balance, co-ordination and divided attention based on the above components. They are relatively simple to perform when drug free but complex enough to divide a drivers attention. These tests are extremely accurate as officers can assess what drug a driver is on, by the relative success or failure during the tests as a whole.

A group of 19 - 25 year olds in Scotland were asked for their opinions on drug driving. Here were some of the penalties our focus group thought were applicable if they were caught whilst driving under the influence of drugs and the police judge them to be 'impaired'...

• "A £50 Fine."
• "Just a caution."
• "Points on your licence plus a £500 fine."
• "Drink Driving penalty would be worse."

If you get caught driving whilst under the influence of drugs, the penalties can be the same as they would be for drink driving, plus you will have a reference to drugs on your record.

• Up to £5,000 fine
• Loss of licence
• Up to 6 months in prison.
• Inability to hire a car
• Refusal of a visa for the United States

What are the Effects on Driving:
Many drugs can affect your driving. The following is an outline of different types of drugs and how they can affect your driving, for more information visit www.drugdrive.com

Stimulants
Stimulants speed up your brain and body. Common stimulants include:

• Amphetamines
• Slimming Pills
• Some cold and flu medication
• Ecstacy
• Cocaine
• Crack Cocaine

They can affect driving ability by causing impaired co-ordination, aggressiveness, hyperactivity, hallucinations, blurred vision, dizziness and fainting, fatigue.

Depressants
Depressants slow down the brain and body. Common depressants include:

• Codeine based painkillers
• Cough Mixtures
• Allergy Medications
• Benzodiazepines
• Anti depressants
• Antihistamines
• Barbituates
• Sedatives

They can affect your driving ability by causing impaired co-ordination, impaired reaction times, impaired alertness, memory loss, dizziness, fatigue, nausea, tremors

Narcotic Analgesics
Narcotic Analgesics include:

• Opiates - morphine, heroin, codeine
• Methadone
• Pethidine

They can affect your driving ability by causing impaired co-ordination, slow reflexes, blurred vision, sleepiness.

Other Drugs

• Cannabis
• Hallucinogens
• Solvents
• Beta blockers

These can affect your driving by causing impaired co-ordination, unconsciousness, muscle weakness, impaired reaction time, poor vision, inability to judge distance and speed, distortions of time, place and space.

Get the Right Advice
You should always ask your doctor or pharmacist about the drugs you are taking and how they can affect your driving. Always follow the recommended dose, read the information provided with your medication and never take someone else's medication.