How many cars did you pass today? The odds are that four out of every hundred cars you passed was driven by someone under the influence of drugs.
Earlier this year the Queensland Government conducted secret tests on 2000 drivers and found that 1 in ever 25 drivers was under the influence of drugs. Research in Victoria has shown that illicit drugs were present in 30% of drivers involved in fatal crashes and in Europe they have found that figure was around 40%.
With a road toll in Queensland that claims an average of four lives every five days the Government is looking at ways of reducing that number. New laws will be introduced in 2007 to deal with drug affected drivers and penalties are expected to be similar to those imposed on drunk drivers.
In Queensland the data has shown that there are almost four times as many drug affected drivers on the road as there are drunk drivers.