KEY POINTS:
People suspected of being on drugs will be tested on the side of the road by an "impairment" test, in which people are asked to do co-ordination exercises such as walk in a straight line and undergo eye examinations.
If police believed they were on drugs, a blood test would be done to confirm it. Similar punishments would apply as for speeding drivers.
Should there be roadside drug-driving tests? Here is a selection of Your Views:
Jimbo
The criteria for this test are ridiculous. Complete reefer madness.
S.Natarajan
Police strategy: Allow crimes including drug offences to happen and then catch and fine them.
What people prefer: Don't in the first instance allow drugs to be traded or manufactured here.
People will be heard by police only in Custody and Jails.
Those people in jail any way are criminals and drug offenders. Therefore police and people are in different worlds. Police strategists should be involved in discussions with community before devising anything. Police Minister should initiate such discussions, at least once a month. That would help preventive actions rather than corrective actions.
Caroline (Wellington)
There needs to be a better test than 'walk along a straight line'! We need saliva tests, and now. What's the hold up, the straight line test is not going to be effective. The police need real proof right then and there with no major margin for error.
Dakz
What a joke, as usual New Zealanders talking about stuff they know nothing about. Stop judging, everybody knows cigarettes and alcohol are the two biggest drugs in the NZ and the world, and yet their legal. What a disgrace, if the government really cared like they say they do every drug would be banned altogether. For all that don't know the first drug people usually take first is either alcohol or cigarettes and then marijuana not marijuana first. Ban these drugs altogether and there would be no need for drink or drug testing.
Cass Rochelle
I have menieres disease so how do I go if I have to do a roadside sobriety test? I'd fail. I can't walk in a straight line as a rule, and if they made me hold my arms out and shut my eyes I'd fall over. I have a fairly stressed out demeanour so I get flustered easily. The roadside test is a farce. Hurry up and get the saliva tests legalized and use those. It's ludicrous to insinuate that someone is on drugs when in fact there is every chance they actually have another reason for their behaviour if they're pulled over. It's draconian to expect someone to 'walk a line'. Sure I agree, something has to be done. But this is insane on so many counts.
Waikato Girl
Depending on the drugs you have taken will depend on the affect it has on you. As I have watched a documentary on marijuana that drivers were a lot more cautious and drove slower after taking this drug. So who's to tell if someone is on this? I'd like to know what tests will be involved, if its balance, hand/eye co-ordination - this can be hard for some people anyway, therefore what's the point? People shouldn't be taking drugs let alone driving whist on them, I think we should have tests, but what will it prove? Someone who has blood shot eyes from working at a computer all day/outside with sun stroke will be taken back to the police station because they look like they have taking drugs. Crazy!
James Hoffa
Yeah let the police do their job, which is to minimize the chances of idiots mowing down kids walking on the way home from school, or diminish the amount of fools running through intersections to slam into family cars. P-addicts are every where.
Will
Recidivist offenders do not appear to have their behaviour affected by any penalty, and in any case, once you have accumulated enough fines, you can apply to the court to have them removed or reduced. Maybe vehicles should be confiscated for a minimum period and not returned until the fine is paid, with no exceptions. Perhaps fines should be partially based on income? I have not read the Bill, but I hope that by focussing on illegal drugs it does not have the secondary effect of reducing awareness or enforcement or other driver impairing actions/substances, which arguably may be even more dangerous. Ever seen anyone weaving along the road or go through a red light (without picking up speed). Chances are they are on a cellphone, not on drugs. Recent studies have shown the use of hands-free cellphones impairs drivers more than driving above the legal alcohol driving limit. What about driver fatigue, unusual blood sugar, the use of prescribed medication? Why have another 'safety' law when the ones we have got are not enforced. For example, while driving with the use of fog lights is illegal (except at low speed in fog), this safety measure is rarely enforced.
Urs
The Greens would call it an illegal search to go taking blood from the future killers with probable cause! They do not believe in justice or non violence for humans, only in protecting inanimate objects like trees. Perhaps we should not blood test drink drivers either? The people of today do not matter only the air for future generations. Is it a more violent and grief ridden world that's on their. So long as no tree or snail suffers everything is ka pai. Put the needle deep in the arm of these tree hugging driving pot smokers fast - before they go smashing into some roadside tree. Because it seems they will defend their rights to privacy to their grave (and ours) and beyond. Incapable of seeing the bigger picture? Not that I don't support green issues, because I do. But this extreme individual rights emphasis on other issues at the expense of community and human life is making me reconsider my party vote hard out.
Mama Mia (Auckland)
Makes great sense to me to start roadside drug testing. Anything that save lives is good for all Kiwis. And drugs kill the same way alcohol does. So, get on with it and start saving lives now and do stop listening to pot smoking Greens whose only goal in New Zealand politics have been to smoke as much dope as possible. That's why they have achieved nothing in Kiwi politics.
Me again
Simply put, Yes. Drugs are probably more likely to be the cause of an accident than alcohol is.
Most of these drugs go unnoticed, unless tested for, by being tested as part of a road side stop they are going to find these people who mix drugs and alcohol, or drive and see things (hallucinations) that are not there at all. These are the people likely to see things that are not there, or become raged by silly things like the frog stopping them from crossing the intersection.
Ivan Robins
We should have roadside drug testing but it seems rather pointless when we haven't even begun to control drunk or speeding drivers yet. The apprehension rate is fine, but no one is concerned with the consequences of being caught because the penalties are pathetic. It is no good expecting all drivers to ever get the message,that the police so often hope for, because statistically half of the driving population will have an IQ ranging from 70 up to only average. In fact one in 50 drivers on our roads will have an IQ of 70. Hardly sufficient for getting messages, but quite sufficient for driving like an idiot. Drunk or speeding drivers should be recognised as serious criminal offenders who day after day cause vastly more harm, tragedy and suffering to innocent people than all our prison population has ever done.
ArnieFB
How about an intelligence test as well, or instead, and perhaps a blitz on the roads around Parliament.
SparXz (Auckland)
You're all a bunch of hypocrites. Do you for one moment think the Police will use this bill as a way of keeping just the people that choose to drink/take drugs from being on the roads?
The police have the power at the moment to temporarily disqualify you from operating a motor vehicle for 24 hours and can confiscate your keys. This is a discretionary power and if you stand up for what you believe in a vindictive cop can invoke this power. A good book some of the people that have responded to this article should read is George Orwell's Animals Farm. The more power we give the state is one step closer we move towards a totalitarian society where our every action and reaction is being watched by those that wish to control us all. It is a crime to drive (move around the country) with out a license (your papers). Last time I looked this country was not Nazi Germany. How about the scenario off getting tested on the roadside and it coming back as a false positive, the police think your on some A-class drug, go to raid your house and find nothing, so something is planted and your ass ends up in jail for 5 - 7 yrs. This is very unlikely to happen, since everyone knows the police are not corrupt and can be completely trusted. So I side with the Greens on this issue and more thinking needs to be done before we give more power to those who may abuse it.
West Aucklander
Good, this is long overdue.
Ekbok (Kura)
This idea is just straight gangs up in here and dumb to the maximum security cell. That's how I roll. Put me through, put me in the manager. I don't care, I don't want any talk.
Bri (Auckland)
At last we are getting some sense into the driving in this country. Hopefully we can get more police to get rid of drugs entirely from society - How on earth the Greens can be so righteous as to plead search issues I don't know. If we didn't have these idiots we wouldn't need them would we? It seems there are more dipsticks on the planet than in the cars on the road!
Murray
The Green Party need to realise that they live on Planet Earth. An increasing number of voters are thankfully getting fed up with their jandal wearing, tree-hugging, dope-promoting philosophies. I for one welcome the bill, and any police officer can ask me to walk a straight line at any time. Why? Because I have nothing to hide or fear. Any right thinking citizen will value the lives of the innocent victims over the rights of those who smoke dope and make themselves a danger to others. Pass this Bill into Law and put these idiots where they belong.
Road Safety Engineer
Looks like the Green Party are ducking the issue. Cannabis plus a 'legal' amount of alcohol causes significant impairment, and drugs are found to be a factor an awful lot of fatal crashes - not to mention in the growing number of serious injury crashes. The fall in fatalities isn't something to be too proud of - it's still twice the rate of any civilised country, and the number of crash injuries is still climbing. A strong message of no drugs/drink plus driving is needed. What's being proposed is the least we need.
Austin Meyer
While it is imperative to keep chemically-impaired drivers off our roads, any form of subjective roadside testing is an infringement on the citizen's rights. Invariably, police will use the test to target younger drivers, and such examinations as eye inspections or "walking a straight line" are not necessarily hard evidence of being on drugs. Any drug test must be objective, such as oral swab, or similar. There are medical conditions, such as inner ear trauma or detached retina, which could cause a person to fail any of these tests.
Kate Bennett
When the government gets the sentence for the crime right, then maybe drugs will be reduced. People who drink and drive now with a large number of convictions are still driving so why would one think that the addition of drugs while driving will be any different. Until the sentence is equal to the crime we will still have people taking drugs and driving while drunk. We need tougher sentences for those already flouting the law. Even when people kill others on the road while under the influence of drink or drugs they are unlikely to go to jail. We should have three strikes and you get jail no more chances. Come on get tough and stop pandering to the political correctness which has overtaken our rights in New Zealand. Drugs are taken knowingly and so is drinking so why doesn't our sentences reflect this. Cut out the namby pampy and make people do their full time and not half of time. This should apply on all sentences. Give them two chances and after that you do all the time. This includes drug taking as well.
Nigel Wade
This bill is pointless. It's already an offence to drive under the influence of drugs.
Satch (Hong Kong)
It's about time drugged driving became an offence in line with drink driving. Anything that impairs driving should be an absolute no-no!
