Action taken to prevent drug-related road injuries
Tamaki Makaurau - Random roadside drug testing will come into force from next year, to deter drug-impaired driving, following the passing of the Land Transport (Drug Driving) Amendment legislation.
In both 2020 and 2019, more than 100 people were killed in crashes where a driver was found to have had drugs in their system. This legislation directly addresses these preventable crashes and will lead to safer roads.
Improving safety and saving lives on our roads is at the heart of this legislation. Drug-impaired driving accounts for nearly a third of all road deaths.
The rollout of roadside testing is set to begin in early 2023 and will be similar to the approach to alcohol breath testing. Over the next 12 months, Te Manatū Waka Ministry of Transport, police and Waka Kotahi will be working on implementing the new roadside drug testing regime.
Random roadside oral fluid testing can detect the most common impairing drugs used by New Zealand drivers, including THC (the psycho-active ingredient in cannabis), methamphetamine, benzodiazepines (sedatives), MDMA (ecstasy), opioids, and cocaine. The regime also establishes new blood criminal limits and infringement thresholds for 25 impairing drugs.
The Bill gives police the power to conduct random oral fluid testing at the roadside to detect the most prevalent impairing illicit and prescription drugs.
The Bill extends the existing medical defence in the Land Transport Act to include the new drug driving regime. The Bill also creates a new medical defence pathway for infringements resulting from positive oral fluid test results that do not require the driver to undergo a blood test.
The regime also sets blood infringement thresholds and criminal limits for 25 of the most common drugs that impair drivers as recommended by an i expert panel. These drugs are:
Alprazolam
Amphetamine
Buprenorphine
Clonazepam
Cocaine
Codeine
Diazepam
Dihydrocodeine
Fentanyl
GHB
Ketamine
Lorazepam
MDMA
Methadone
Methamphetamine
Midazolam
Morphine
Nitrazepam
Oxazepam
Oxycodone
Temazepam
THC (cannabis)
Tramadol
Triazolam
Zopiclone
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.