Death of drug-taking truck driver highlights risks

Photo / Mark Mitchell

Long-haul truck drivers are being caught driving after taking P, posing a huge danger on the roads.

This week a Rotorua trucking firm sacked a driver who had twice tested positive for methamphetamine use.

Other Rotorua companies have strict policies on drug taking, with regular random tests on drivers.

Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean has revealed Taupo truck driver Christopher Henare Hammond was high on methamphetamine and cannabis when the truck he was driving plunged 40m off a cliff into Lake Taupo.

The P truck driver issues came as two Talleys Group workers sacked for allegedly taking P on a fishing vessel in Nelson lost their bid for reinstatement.

An inquest into Hammond's death revealed he had taken the drugs in the five hours before he died.

Road tests determined the 23-year-old had been driving at 53km/h. The speed limit on the bend where he plunged into the lake was only 25km/h.

A glass pipe for smoking methamphetamine was found in the cab of his truck.

Judge MacLean determined that while the accident might have been caused by excess speed, drug use or fatigue, it was difficult to know the effects the drugs had on Hammond's ability to drive.

Rotorua trucking company representatives said they randomly drug-test drivers.

One Rotorua trucking firm owner said he sacked a driver this week after testing positive for methamphetamine for a second time. The driver had been suspended for three months last year while receiving drug counselling, he said.

"He knew the risk when he came back to work - next time it wouldn't be tolerated."

Williams and Wilshier health and safety manager Dave Pardoe said drivers were regularly random tested because the industry was seen as "high risk".

Few ever tested positive but if they did they were "stood down" and sent for rehabilitation, Pardoe said.

"They are taken off the road straight away. It's a serious issue," he said.

Staff at Cairns Forestry Logging are also randomly tested.

Director Eliza Cairns said they had never had anyone test positive for drug use but it was vital everyone in the industry kept on top of the issue.

Another operator said police were not picking up a number of truckies driving under the influence of drugs.

"There are the few rogue operators and drivers but the vast majority are very professional," he said.