Central Hunter highway patrol officers will soon have a new weapon in the fight against drug driving that police say will become as common as random breath test machines.
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The Drager DrugTest device has already landed in Newcastle and it is expected Central Hunter will also benefit from the new, portable, technology.
The device can detect the presence of cannabis, methamphetamine, amphetamines and cocaine in a driver’s saliva.
If a positive roadside result is produced, the driver would then be required to submit to further testing to confirm the presence of illicit drugs.
Maitland highway patrol Sergeant Damon Bugden said, while there was no timeframe for when Maitland would receive the technology, he expected the devices to become more common.
“Where before you had to bring guys up from Sydney to do testing, they are starting to roll out the portable machines,” he said.
“Newcastle got the first machine and we can borrow it, but it is a slow roll out.
“I have no doubt in the future it will be as prevalent as an RBT machine.”
Hunter highway patrol supervisor Senior Sergeant Tony Grace told the Mercury on Wednesday that about one in five drivers pulled over by police in the area had tested positive for illicit drugs.
Sergeant Bugden said more frequent testing had led to a spike in the number of drivers caught with drugs in their systems.
“We’re seeing about one in 180 generally testing positive for alcohol, which we do a lot more testing for, where the drugs is about one in five,” he said.
“We are doing more of it now, so we’re detecting drug driving more than we used to.
“I’ve got no doubt in the future a lot of our effort will go that way; drug driving is becoming more prevalent detection wise.
“Going back to the ‘70s and ‘80s, drugs were around as much but we didn’t have the testing for it.”
Sergeant Bugden said, while most people understood the dangers of drink driving, motorists generally had not yet received the message on driving under the influence of drugs.
“We need a lot larger education package on drug driving,” he said.
“People aren’t stupid, they know they aren’t supposed to drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but they still do it.
“It has taken 30 years for the message to sink in about drink driving, the effects [of drug driving] are similar to drink driving in that drivers tend to get over confident in their ability; they are relaxed with a boost of over confidence which is dangerous.”