Drugged driving initiative welcomed by Road Safety Education

The governments recent announcement to crack down on drugged driving is welcomed by Road Safety Education. (5)

Road Safety's RYDA programme is a full day intensive road education programme for senior high school students that aims to change the way young people think and act on the road - not only as drivers but also passengers and make better decisions including not getting into cars with friends impaired by drink or drugs.

"Dealing with drivers who are high has got to be one of the biggest gaps in road safety in New Zealand" says Maria Lovelock, Road Safety Educations NZ Programme Manager.

“There is a perception that it is harder for a driver who is drug impaired to be caught by police but that doesn’t mean you can cheat death” says Lovelock.

New Zealand has one of the world's highest rates of cannabis use. Two-thirds of cannabis users admit to driving under the influence, says the Transport Agency.

The Ministry of Transport report that for every 100 alcohol or drug-impaired driver or rider who die in road crashes, 47 of their passengers and 16 sober road users die with them. (2)

There are no ‘limits’ to drugged driving, a police officer conducts several impairment tests. (1) The fine for driving whilst drugged and causing injury is up to 5 years in prison or a $20,000 fine, or causing death, up to 10 years in prison or a $20,000 fine.

Over the ditch, the Australians have conducted random road side drug testing since 2004. These saliva screening devices detect three drugs – cannabis, methamphetamine and Ecstasy.

“The announcement this week that drug testing will be introduced here as well is good news says Lovelock”

In 2015 a NZ Drug Foundation survey found that 70% of drug users report driving under the influence of cannabis or prescription stimulants. Research carried out by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research also found that around one-quarter of all drivers and motorcyclists killed in road crashes were found to have cannabis present in their system; with or without other substances. (4) Last year Anita O'Connell, of addiction treatment centre Odyssey House, raised concerns that Canterbury has a serious drug-driving problem. (3)

Lovelock has designs on getting Road Safety Education's flagship programme, RYDA into more secondary schools this year with the help of funders NZ Steel, BOC, Bosch, Bridgestone, the Alexander group and community partner Rotary.

"Older drivers will always have advantage over youth on our roads. Youth have more challenges; their brains are still developing, they exhibit sensation-seeking behaviour, they are greatly influenced by peer pressure, they often drive less road-worthy cars, can be sleepy, and often drive at night or for 'fun'. They also don’t have the experience that older drivers have. It's up to us as a community to bridge that gap of inexperience and underdevelopment with as many tools as we can for better planning and decision making. That's what the RYDA programme is all about.” says Lovelock.

Last year 5340 students graduated from the RYDA programme across New Zealand.

Reference
(1) http://www.transport.govt.nz/legislation/acts/qasdrugimpaireddrivinglaw/

(2) http://www.transport.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Research/Documents/alcohol-drugs-crashfacts-2013.pdf

(3) http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/65440097/drugged-drivers-a-major-hazard

(4) https://www.nzta.govt.nz/safety/driving-safely/alcohol-and-drugs/drug-affected-driving-advertising/thoughts/

(5) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11699689

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