It used to be just Drunk drivers that were the problem, but now it seems that Drugged drivers are more common.
A couple of recent reports both show that the numbers of drugged drivers are higher than drink drivers.
In New South Wales, according to Assistant Commissioner John Hatley, they have found, from four million tests each year:
- One in Sixty Three (63) drivers are drug affected, (Half being positive to cannabis.
- One in One Hundred and Ninety Three (193) are drink affected, at over 0.05.
In South Australia, Superintendent Linda Fellows states that:
- One in Twenty Six (26) people are positive for drugs.
- One in Sixty (60) are positive for alcohol at over 0.05.
The drugs being tested for are normally Cannabis, Methamphetamine and Ecstasy.
Note that the drinking limit in Australia is 0.05, which is much lower than the UK limit of 0.08.
From previous figures at www.britzinoz.com/drink-driving-statistics-in-australia it would appear that almost half of those drink drivers would be UNDER 0.08 and therefore not classed as drunk in the UK.