DRUG-DRIVERS FACE ROADSIDE TEST

DRUG-AFFECTED drivers will be subjected to roadside tests and face
tough penalties under a major change to road safety laws announced by
the State Government yesterday.

They can also have their car keys confiscated for up to 24 hours if
drug use is suspected.

Police will conduct vision tests for signs of prescription and illegal
drugs when a new offence - driving while impaired by a drug - is
introduced next year.

Officers are being trained to test for nystagmus - an involuntary
movement of the eye which can indicate recent drug use.

The legislation is yet to be drafted but penalties for drug-driving
will be the same as for drink-driving.

Penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol range from a
minimum $250 fine and possible three-month licence suspension to 18
months jail, a $5000 fine and lifetime driving ban for serious repeat
offenders.

Police Minister Michelle Roberts said research had shown that almost
10 per cent of deaths on WA roads involved prescription or illegal
drugs.

Mrs Roberts said Cabinet had approved the drafting of amendments to
the WA Road Safety Act, which will be introduced to Parliament next
year.

The legislation will make it easier for police to test for drugs using
saliva-testing machines like those on trial in Victoria.

She said targeting drug users would make roads safer.

"We expect the new improved methods of roadside testing under this
program to help directly in reducing the rate of fatalities and
serious injuries on WA roads," she said.

The State Government also released its five-year road safety strategy
called Arriving Safely.

Road Safety Council chairman Grant Dorrington said reducing WA's road
toll would depend on the whole community.

The strategy canvasses ways to combat the four main causes of
accidents - excessive speed, alcohol, not wearing seatbelts and fatigue.

It said the effect of drug use on a driver's performance was hard to
measure.

The strategy also warned that as the number of older people rose, the
problem of road trauma involving them also would rise.

Shadow road safety minister Katie Hodson-Thomas said she welcomed any
measures aimed at ensuring motorists were not driving under the
influence of drugs.

She said the Government's moves to decriminalise cannabis use made
such measures even more important.

"We have been calling on the Government to do that for some time," Ms
Hodson-Thomas said.